Driving in China and A Few Plumbing Eccentricities
China has reached a new low or new high, however you choose to look at it, on the driving situation in this country. ex-Marine and I are not a timid passengers. Far be it! We've sat in jeeps that crossed one-lane swinging bridges over chasms. Sat in terror on switchback roads in Pakistan barely wide enough for the 4x4 let alone trucks and buses that passed us on curves. Crept up the mountain road to Darjeeling in a thick fog with no guard rails on the side. Almost been killed in Pakistan when road builders set off dynamite directly above our car sending boulders cascading down near the car. And, driven thousands of kilometers as a passenger in many third world countries.
This last trip through Southeastern China absolutely scared the bejesus out of us on a daily basis. China has created a monster driving situation with its burgeoning middle class who can now afford to buy cars. They tear out of side streets into traffic without a second thought or second look. They cross the double yellow line and speed into ongoing traffic in tunnels, and on six-lane highways. They make right turns from the far left lane and screech across opposing traffic. Buses and taxis run red lights consistently. No one signals and it appears that they drive with blinders on.
The "China Narratives Art Exhibition in Chengdu, China
By coincidence, all guests of the Holiday Inn East Century City were invited to visit the 4th annual Chengdu Biennale "China Narratives"...View image... being held in the International Exhibition Center...View image, and arranged by Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum at no charge. Well, we had nothing to do today and walked over after breakfast to see what this was all about.
The "China Narratives" purpose was to detail in contemporary art, China's amazing sociological and economic changes over the years. The rapid reconstruction of China...View image, rockets...View image, modern conveniences...View image. Pictures of icon Mao adressing the people....View image, Tienanmen Square...View image, the Communist Party...View image, and Communist leaders...View image. A heap of old bicycles on the floor at the entrance...View image, an overturned car wreck...View image, a 20-foot tall, gigantic plexiglass pig with what appeared to be a fairy and balloons on its back (I have absolutely no idea what this was supposed to mean), and a subway car filled with people going to work...View image.
The Eastern Tibetan Plateau trip ended in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, with a population of over 11 million people and a very important economic center. Did you know that Chengdu was the birthplace of the first widely used paper money in the world? We stayed in the center of Chengdu on previous trips, and did a little sightseeing, of which the most important was the Giant Panda Breeding Center, an absolute must see. How can anyone not love watching those adorable pandas!
This time, we selected the Holiday Inn East Century City, south of main Chengdu, in the Chengdu convention center area, around 30 minutes from the center. We chose this area because summers are hot, we'd been here, done it and were only staying for two nights before flying home. However, the Holiday Inn also runs a bus into Chengdu center three times a day or you could take a taxi or public bus in. The public bus stops in front and the Holiday Inn will be happy to give you directions.
The Ancient Horse Tea Road Passed Through Ya'an, China
It was time to end the Eastern Tibetan Plateau exploration and leave Moxi, at the foot of Hailougou National Glacier Park, for Chengdu. This would be a 400 km/248 mile, 5-1/2 hour ride depending on landslides and construction hold ups along the way.
It took over three hours just to Ya'an at 765m/2,500' and the weather was really heating up at these much lower altitudes. A very hot and spicy lunch before getting on the road one last time. Exiting Ya'an, Mr. Wang pulled over by an impressive line of bronze statues on a small berm along the highway...View image. We got out and heard what these statues represented. The Ancient Horse Tea Road, or caravan, passed through Ya'an on what was called the "Small Tea Road" that led from China to Lhasa, Tibet. Earlier this morning we had seen people and horses carrying goods that could have easily stepped out of the 7th century.
Moxi Ancient/Old Town was turning out to be a lot more interesting than anticipated thanks to unexpected encounters that gave an in-depth look into Chinese local life in western Sichuan and its humble, but enjoyable sights. Try and visit Moxi along with other small towns in China in the next year or so before the remaining two blocks with its old houses is razed. The old way is disappearing rapidly like everywhere in the world. Thank goodness some old towns, especially the walled city of Pingyao, have been preserved.
There is one local Buddhist/Taoist temple...View image... done up in the usual, colorful style with incense burning in the courtyard and big "guardian" statues...View image. We walked around the completely deserted temple grounds, up and down more narrow streets and alleys of Moxi Ancient/Old Town. Corn growing behind the remaining barn-like houses, a barber cutting hair...View image, men and women playing their daily mah jong games...View image.
A Church and Traditional Chinese Doctor in Moxi Old Town, Western Sichuan
There was nothing on the schedule today but a leisurely walk about Moxi on a sunny, hot day. Moxi is an ancient township that is growing by leaps and bounds. Construction takes place 24/7 and the remaining old section now consists of only a few blocks. Hotel after hotel, Condos and shopping centers are going up throughout Moxi. Goodbye, old Moxi.
A Catholic Church was constructed by a French missionary in 1931 over the remains of a Buddhist temple and this was the first church we'd seen throughout this China vacation. It is still a working church, services are held on Sunday and the caretaker/guardian (same one who keeps a close watch on the house where Mao stayed) unlocked it for a visit. It would be difficult to miss seeing a church with chinese-style roofs while walking around Moxi...
Chairman Mao Stayed in Moxi Old Town, Sichuan, China
I'm not proud of the fact that my history is sketchy and was completely unaware that Chairman Mao actually came through Moxi and stayed here. Mao commandeered a house owned by the Church next door when he and his troops came though Moxi on the Long March in 1935, and rested for two weeks. Mr. Wang found the guardian who opened this house that has now been turned into a paean to Mao with memorabilia in each room.
The Long March began Mao Zedong's ascent to power and his leadership gained him the support of the members of the party. Mao began the bitter Long March in Jiangxi with 40,000 men and lost at least half on the way but the losses have also been estimated as high as 80%. This significant event in the Communist Party of China's history would seal the prestige of Mao and his supporters as the new leaders of the party.
Reshuigou Hot Springs-Gongga Magic Spring in Hailuogou National Glacier Park, China
The forest path from the viewing platform at the top of Hailuogou National Glacier Park was very slippery. Instead of taking it all the way to the Hot Springs at Camp #2, we just went back on the road and hailed the next bus. The Reshuigou Hot Springs...View image, also called "Gongga Magic Spring", with pools of transparent, odorless and clean water to soak in. The Hot Springs water temperatures go up to 91 degrees Celsius/195 degrees Fahrenheit from geothermal action. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit and I certainly wasn't going to test the truth in a pool 195 F. water.
The bus let us off in front of Reshuigou Hot Springs/Gongga Magic Spring, at 2,580m/8,464' and we began the long walk up several flights of stairs to the main entrance. Steam was rising from the other side of the mountain...View image... where the springs were located and accessed by a swinging bridge over a river. There are warning signs to be careful of troops of marauding and dangerous brown monkeys lurking around.
What To See in Hailuogou National Glacier Park (Conch Valley), Sichuan, China
The four of us walked from the Ice Mountain Hotel three short blocks to the gates of Hailuogou National Glacier Park and bought tickets. It costs almost 400 Yuan ($50+ U.S.) for entrance fee, bus and cable car. Hailuogou is the biggest glacier park in China with the lowest glacier in Asia. A fleet of green National Park Service buses were waiting to load passengers and everyone who visits has to show passports or identity cards, not once, not twice, but over and over again. As the only two westerners on this mountain today, it became frustrating. The inspector would look at the passport, look at us, (video)....look at the passport again and back at us one more time. All right all ready!
Mr. Wang threw a hissy fit because the National Park wouldn't honor his guide pass and made him buy a ticket. With dark looks and loud mutterings from him, the bus...View image... began crawling up the mountain side, switch-backing the entire distance through virgin forest, small little communities, strands of bamboo, rhododendrons, corn fields, farms growing vegetables and waterfalls on both sides until we arrived at Camp #3 with its gondola around one hour later. The day was very cloudy but the clouds did part for a brief period of time allowing us to catch a glimpse of Gonggha Shan, western China's highest point, 7,556m/21,790'.
Guzan and Moxi Old Town, At The Foot of Hailuogou National Glacier Park
There were never any definite planned lunch stops. Mr. Wang would just drive through towns and if it happened to be around the lunch hour, stop in front of local restaurants and check to see if the food was fresh and good. Today was no exception and we stopped in Guzan on the way to Hailuogou National Glacier Park. This Guzan restaurant...View image... turned out one of the tastiest meals of the entire trip and I stood mesmerized while watching the chef whomp out four different dishes in less than 10 minutes that only cost $10 U.S. FOR FOUR PEOPLE! (Watch this video...) When I attempt to stir fry a little Chinese at home, the sink is filled with prep dishes and it's impossible to use that kind of wok fire in my kitchen without burning the house down.
Filled to the brim, the Land Cruiser continued along a better road sill under construction...View image..., past different fields that had rice, sunflowers and corn all growing together and many waterfall flowing from the glaciers above..
Mr. Wang continued driving along the Dadu River towards Luding on this not-so-good road...View image. The Chinese Government is amping up construction on a fantastic new highway that will take three more years to complete. They are tunneling through mountains...View image... (we drove through one that was 7km/4+mi long but in the meantime, drivers have to contend with constant landslides, especially in rainy season. One landslide took place three days ago with four people dead, 11 missing and 150 still unaccounted for. It's common for landslides to wipe out entire villages along this road. Not at all reassuring!
Entering large Luding (pop: 80,000), a modern city, was a huge shock in contrast to the small towns and villages over the last two weeks. The Kham Tibetan area was left behind and going forward, the remaining towns would consist of at least 85% Han. People were selling watermelons from a truck...View image, playing cards...View image, and one picturesque group of older people in Chinese blue clothes carrying on a lengthy conversation...View image.
I looked out of our 7th floor Old Castle Hotel window this morning and a maid was out on a room balcony washing the floor. When finished, she picked up the bucket of water, looked carefully below to make sure no one was standing there and emptied the pail over the balcony...View image. Caught her on camera but couldn't video fast enough. Really good breakfast dumplings filled with vegetables...View image...and we drove out of Danba, following the rushing Dadu River (a tributory of the Gold Sand River) towards Luding.
Not very far outside of Danba is Sopo Watchtower Village perched on the hillside...View image...with watchtowers as far as the eye could see. There were once 5,000 watchtowers in Danba but only 343 remain, many dating back from 200-1,000 years. These watchtowers were used for military defense during the 30-year Qing Dynasty wars both as lookouts and sanctuary. Usually built at a height of 30m/98', Danba's tallest watchtower is 60m/196'.
Rabbit for Lunch? Exploring Danba's Gyarong Market in The Kham Sichuan Area of China
Lunch today in Danba involved a hysterical conversation between Mr. Wang and order taker, "Foo-yen" (the word for "Staff"), over what this little restaurant offered. Their specialities were heavy on rabbit, yak's liver, tripe and other assorted delicicies that "me no like." Consultations over, and decision made, lunch was - "foot mushrooms" in broth (these had already been dried and I like the fresh "foot mushrooms" better); good old reliable sweet & sour pork, pork with onions and chilis and the Sichuan version of a large potato pancake all in this video.
The rest of the afternoon had free time to walk around Danba...View image, watch mah jong games (they use very big mah jong tiles)...View image,and replenish the "wind horses" supply for the remainder of the trip, Gyarong people with distinctive apparel were everywhere on the crowded streets...View image. The Chinese sit outside their shops unless they have a customer, talking to neighboring shopkeepers, friends and passerbys.
Jiaju (Gyarong), A Typical Tibetan Village Outside of Danba, Kham Sichuan, China
Heavy rains last night caused landslides and kept us from visiting the Gyarong village, Chongio and Suopo...View image, originally scheduled on the itinerary and too dangerous to attempt. The only option would have been a very muddy two-hour walk in each direction up the mountain something that none of us relished. Instead, Mr. Wang drove to Jiaju Village, a more touristy Gyarong village...View image... that had guesthouses, restaurants and huge tour buses on the road (including one that almost wiped us out)...View image.
The Gyarong people are Tibetan even though they dress differently from the Khampas. The short story, according to Dondup (take all his facts with a grain of salt), is... "the Khampas slaughtered the Gyarong men in battle eons ago and took their women in marriage. The result is a half Tibetan-half Chinese mix -"Jah" means Chinese, "Row", Tibetan." Tourists are drawn to this spectacular mountain area in ever increasing numbers to see the distinctive, unique Fortress-like houses (many turned into guesthouses) and ancient watchtowers. That is why Danba is referred to as "The Land of Fairy Tale Villages."
Danba (pop: 30,000) is a small county in the mountain valley of the Kham Sichuan and the landscape varies from high-altitude snow-capped mountains to low-altitude grasslands. The population is primarily ethnic Gyarongs/Jiarong ("Jah-row") Tibetans that wear completely different clothing from the Khampas we'd seen up to now. Danba is not "off the road least traveled" but a popular Chinese tourist site because most of the Gyarong/Jiarong "fairy tale villages" are located around 10km/6.2 miles from town perched on the mountainsides.
Driving in, we not only saw the different styles of Tibetan clothes but here, the people were wearing funnel-shaped baskets on their backs...similar to the Sapa, Vietnam area. It was beginning to look like rain by the time we pulled up in front of the Old Castle Hotel...View image...and stood in the lobby while passports were xeroxed for the zillionth time, swaying back and forth from today's extremely rough and long ride.
Ganze/Ganzi/Kandze to Danba/Temba in the Kham Sichuan, China
The different Chinese names for each town drove me crazy. I began to keep the itinerary with me at all times in the Land Cruiser. Today's destination was Danba, also spelled "Temba" and then Dondup would pronounce the name of a town in Tibetan. Whatever it was called, Danba or Temba, we were staying for two nights. Both the distance and length of the day from Ganzi to Danba was going to be one of the longer ones on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau (300 kms/186 miles) along 100 kms/66 miles of good road, the rest, bad.
Breakfast...and into the trusty Land Cruiser and out of Ganzi, passing the first apple orchards we'd seen on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau...View image...and a few very nice houses. A short distance outside Ganzi there was a gathering next to the road where a Lama was making a speech and praying over a microphone from a building overlooking the field filled with devout Buddhists...View image. This ritual is repeated just once a year and is supposed to bring good luck to the village. The field was crowded with Buddhists from the entire area praying and prostrating themselves.
The Ganzi/Garze Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) Monastery, Sichuan Province, China
The Ganzi/Garze Monastery is a 540-year old lamasery and home to over 500 monks. This is the region's largest monastery and rebuilt in Han Chinese-style by the monks themselves who wanted to build a new monastery. It was unusual to come across a Lamasery/Monastery (Lamasery and Monastery can be used interchangeably according to the dictionary) that hadn't been destroyed by the Cultural Revolution. My travel literature had described the location as ...a short walk along the river dividing the street and through the Tibetan quarter of the town to the foot of the monastery but our opinion is, not a short walk.
Mr. Wang drove to the top of this large monastery that covered great expanses of land with new temples and living quarters for the monks being built all the time. There is a nunnery with 307 nuns right behind the monastery. Ganzi Monastery is the largest Gelugpa, or Yellow Hat, in the Kham. The Yellow Hat School was founded by Tsongkapa in 1409, a teacher who preferred a strict, monastic discipline.
From Derge (Dege) to The Important Monastery City of Ganzi/Garze/Kandze, China
Lunch today was interesting. There was a spicy beef with hot stones (be aware and don't bite into the stones...you'll break a tooth) in it to keep it hot and a vegetable dish with what appeared to be "Rice Krispie bars" floating in it. There's a story about the Chinese version of Rice Krispie pieces. "... Years ago, poor people would scrape the hard and crispy rice off the bottom of their rice pot, let it dry, and add to different dishes with liquid poured over. This served to soften the rice and not waste anything..."
The drive continued into Ganzi (Kandze County) 3,500m/11,482' above sea level and located on the bank of Yalong River, an important transportation hub of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai province...View image. Ganzi/Garze/Kandze is 385km/239mi northwest of Kangding and populated by Tibetans, Khampas, Qiang and Yi.
A Prostrating Buddhist Monk and Other Road Sights on The Way to Ganzi/Garze/Kanze, China
Dumplings...View image... for breakfast, packed up. Before leaving the brand-new White Pagoda Hotel, the four of us stood while the hotel manager carefully checked that nothing had been damaged or stolen! Now in the Land cruiser and out through Dege/Derge on the same road we had entered. Back through the forests, canyons and valley for the four-five hour ride to Ganzi/Garze/Kandze. (Do you think this town is spelled in enough ways? How do travelers ever figure out what public bus to take.) "#1 Perilous Mountain" (Mt. Que'er)...View image...was visible In the distance with its twisting and frightening mountain road switchbacking up through scree and former landslides. A brief break at the top with heavily laden prayer flags...View image...to throw a few more "wind horses" for good luck before beginning the equally difficult road down. Both of us were very grateful for the little traffic this early in the morning.
The Town of Mani Gange was next and the road continued through the grasslands until the scenery changed once again and there were small villages...View image... with barley fields, corn, grass and cows instead of yaks. By the way, if you hit or kill one of the many yaks meandering along the roads, you must find the owner and pay him double the yak's worth. For example, if the yak is worth 3,000 Yuan, you'll have to pay 6,000 Yuan (almost $1,000 U.S.)
Dege/Derge's Bekong Scripture Printing Lamasery, Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China
Lunch over, we sat around outside the 250 year old Bekong Scripture Printing Lamasery because it didn't reopen until 2:30 p.m. The Printing House is located on the east bank of Jinsha (Sequ) River and was founded in 1729 in the Qing Dynasty. Construction took over 21 years on this four-story building. A visit to Dege by tourists, Chinese or Western, is strictly to visit the extremely important Bekong Scripture Printing Lamasery that houses more than 215,000 hardwood printing plates.
Texts include ancient works on astronomy, geography, music, medicine and Buddhist classics including two of the most important Tibetan sutras. It is estimated that these materials make up 70 percent of Tibet's literary heritage. One history of Indian Buddhism has 555 woodblock plates (written in Hindi, Sanskrit and Tibetan) and is the only surviving copy in the world.
Dege/Derge, The Ancient Center of Tibetan Buddhism and Khampa Land, China
Dege/Derge is the westernmost city in Sichuan before a mountain road leads to the vast Tibetan highland and was named after the Dege clan whose influence spread over present-day Sichuan, Tibet and Qinghai. It was one of the three ancient centers of Tibetan Buddhism culture, of great significance to the Khampas and one of the least explored regions of China although that's changing since China began opening up this area to tourism. Albeit tourism with a permit but tourism nonetheless. Dege was also an important stop along the ancient Tea Horse Caravans Road.
We proceeded down the other side of #1 Perilous Mountain (Mt. Que'er)...View image, and the scenery changed dramatically to heavily forested areas with houses resembling log cabins with a Tibetan touch. Drying racks for grass and grain, canyons and gorges, small temples...View image... tucked among the Juniper and Pine Trees. Completely different landscape from the open grasslands and the Tibetans in this area are considered rich because they earn money from the lumber in these heavily wooded expanses.
Xinlu/Xinluhai Lake and Over The Highest Pass to Dege/Derge, Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China
Early morning brought a visit to Xinlu/Xinluhai Holy Lake at the foot of Que'er ("Sheer") Mountain before driving to Derge/Dege. Imodium and Cipro not only did the trick but managed to jam up the works for the next five days until I had to resort to the opposite "end" (forgive the pun) of the spectrum - "Sencot S" to restart the flow.
Xinlu/Xinluhai Holy Lake, altitude 4,040m/13,254', means "the enamored lake" in Tibetan and is the biggest of its kind in Sichuan Province, surrounded by five snow capped mountains, all over 5,000m/16,404'. Mr. Wang drove to the entrance, parked the car, paid an entrance fee and the four of us walked across a bridge...View image... and uphill to the lake. If you like to horseback ride, there are horses...View image... available for rent as soon as your enter.
Sick in Mani Gange, Sichuan Province on The Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China
Finished with the Sexu Temple and Monastery Kora, Mr. Wang drove down a small sidestreet in Shiqu/Shi Qu for lunch at a friend of his. We went inside...View image...View image...to rest but neither one of us was hungry after all the exertion. Mr. Wang just bought some dried yak meat to eat in the car, left and continued the drive to Mani Gonge, altitude 3,900m/12.795'. There was an opportunity en route visit Zhu Zing Temple, one of the six most influential monasteries of Nin Ma Sect (Nipapa School) of Tibetan Buddhism and the birthplace of a branch of Tibetan Tantrism School but we were tired and monasteried out. Passed on this.
It was a bone-rattling ride to Mani Gange, just a pit stop for truckers headed to and from Tibet but the scenery was beyond stunning in this section even though all of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau had been spectacular...View image. There were snow-capped mountains, small towns...View image, lower passes with stupas (always with prayer flags and this time we threw "wind horses" for good luck into the air)...
A Kora Around Sexu/Se Xu Monastery and Mani Gange in Sichuan Province, China
Sexu/Se Xu Monastery in Shiqu/Shi Qu (towns and places in China are always spelled at least two different ways - drove me nuts) is the only monastery in Kham region that can award a "Gexu" Degree (equivalent to a Doctorate Degree). We wouldn't have time to visit the inside of the monastery complex with Tsong Khapa's tooth preserved inside the temple. (I don't know if it's really visible or not since we didn't enter.) However, Mr. Wang pulled up in front of Sexu Monastery and Dondup said there was some time if we wanted to walk the kora with the locals and Mr. Want would wait for us. Around 5,000 people live in the town of Sexu in Shiqu County and we would have stayed at the Sexu Hotel (Guesthouse with no private toilet) before changing plans.
Despite the almost impossible to breathe-in altitude, approximately 4,500 meters/14,763 feet, we decided to attempt it. Dondup assured us the trail wasn't difficult and shouldn't take longer than one hour. The ancient-looking Tibetans already on the trail made it look easy and off we went, to circumambulate (always clockwise) Sexu/Se Xu Monastery, spinning prayer wheels first...View image.
From Yushu, Qinghai Province to Mani Gonge, Sichuan Province
Leaving the very enjoyable Yushu behind, we set off on a long day's drive across the border of Qinghai Province into Sichuan Province. Mani Gonge was the ultimate destination instead of the original itinerary that called for an overnight in Shiqu. If we had stuck to the original itinerary, there would have been time to go inside Sexu/SeXu Monastery in Shiqu, the biggest monastery of the Yellow Hat sect in the West Kham region. Sexu also reputedly has Tsong Khapa's tooth preserved inside the temple but there wouldn't be enough time.
We followed the river out of Yushu...View image...under a brilliantly blue sky in the same direction entered four days ago, with really spectacular scenery in the early morning light. Through a small town with a new monastery perched above it...View image, and a short stop while Mr. Wang filled up the Landcruiser with petrol. The Tibetans were going to have a small festival in this town...View image, but no time to stick around here either.
Yushu's Lively Downtown Market, Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China
The entire Kham region inside the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) is usually closed to individual travel, one of the reasons we used Shanhai Far East Expeditions to arrange. It is located southwest of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an average elevation of more than 4,200m13,799' and a land area of 2667,000 square km. The total population is 330,000 of which the Tibetan population accounts for 96.7 percent due to the fierce reputation of the Khampas.
Yushu is also the source of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers and has linked Tibet and Sichuan Province traders for 1,300 years. With no Horse Festival there was time to visit Yushu's local markets. A person could take a chair, sit down on a street, any street, and just watch the local Khampas all day. Another yummy breakfast of "mo-mos" and dumplings in a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant... and ex-Marine spent time chatting with a man who lived in the United States for years as part of a Chinese mission to the United Nations...View image. As a matter of fact, he was in New York on 9/11.
More "lost in translation" information from Dondup regarding the King of Tibet. Princess Wencheng left Xian about 1,300 years ago to marry Songtsan Gambo, King of Tubo but I was never sure who he was referring to when he would say "King of Tibet." Sontsan Gambo or King Gesar, hero of a famous epic who was known for great deeds. I do think that the gigantic statue in main Yushu Square was King Gesar, a great hero to the Tibetans.
The movie, "Lost in Translation" with Bill Murray had a scene where he is filming a commercial in Japan. The director goes on and on in Japanese for what seems to be minutes, and when Bill finally asks his translator what the director said, she replies, "He say smile more." A defining moment for me and anyone who travels in foreign countries depending on a translator. There were "lost in translation" moments on a daily basis.
Tibetan Sky Burials and a Black-Necked Crane Sanctuary, Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China
One last day in very interesting Yushu with a few sights on the agenda before hitting the road again into Sichuan Province. Noodles for breakfast and I never got tired of watching the cook miraculously create a batch of noodles in minutes from a lump of dough. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone making noodles, steamed buns and mo-mos every morning for breakfast? Or, concocting little dumplings filled with vegetables or meat? Oh well...one more week and it will be back to my Total cereal...
The Terrace of Celestial Burial is the most holy place in the Yushu area. We were hoping that this time we'd be lucky enough to actually see a traditional Tibetan burial ceremony unlike the "non-burial" we hiked up to in Langmusi two years ago. The Tibetans bring the corpse of the deceased to the nearest sky burial spot where hundreds of vultures feed on it. Yonten (our Langmusi guide) explained why they do sky burials. "... the Tibetans eat many animals and birds and this gives something back to the animals and the souls of the dead are brought to heaven."
Traditional Khampa Tibetan Songs and Dances in Yushu, China
I already mentioned that Yushu (along with Lithang) puts on very famous Tibetan horse races (and yak races) every year and that was the main reason we were here. Alas, the Chinese Government cancelled both horse races in fear of more Tibetan uprisings. Instead, the government put on an all day Song and Dance Festival in Yushu. (I don't know what they did to replace the Lithang Horse Festival. Information is always sketchy.)
The heavy rain stopped after the Princess Wencheng Temple and White Hat Sect Nunnery visits, and Mr Wang drove to the large square in the middle of Yushu where the large Tibetan dance program would take place. When we arrived, crowds were gathered 10 deep around the square with the lucky ones sitting on small stools in the front, but Mr. Wang beckoned, we followed and he shoved me past the restricted area, into the front Press Area...View image... to watch and video! No one in the Press Area gave it a thought thinking that we two westerners belonged here. There's always that old saying, "If you act as if you know what you are doing, people won't question you." Mr. Wang certainly knew what to do, how to do it, and even had two signs that he'd put in the front window when times demanded it. One said "Road Supervisor" and the other, "China Television."
Buddhist Ceremonies at A New Nunnery, Yushu, China
From the Temple of Princess Wencheng, it was just a few more kilometers to where a "White Hat Sect Nunnery Temple" was opening with all day ceremonies and prayers. Pilgrims would come and go throughout the day praying and prostrating themselves at the entrance to the new temple. Prayers began at 5:00 a.m. today and would continue for at least 24 hours.
The Head Abbot, a Living Buddha, came to bless the new Temple along with 20-30 monks and impart his spirit into the Temple Buddha. With shoes off, we were allowed to circumambulate inside the temple...View image... to take videos and pictures without using a flash thus instructed by Cindy...View image... (a woman from Hong Kong who was the Abbot's official photographer for this occasion).
Noodle soup and tea eggs for breakfast. If you've never tried tea eggs, they have so much flavor it's unnecessary to add salt or pepper. Since the hoped for Yushu Horse Festival had been cancelled, there were two more days that had to be filled with different excursions. The first for today was The Temple of Princess Wencheng...View image... with its well preserved Buddhist sculptures and scriptures carved on the mountain ridge dating back to the Tang Dynasty.
Remember Princess Wencheng from Mt. Riyue, Sun and Moon Mountain? Princess Wencheng married Tibetan King Songtsen Ganpo in a bid to halt Tibetan raids and is credited with bringing spiritual and agricultural advancements to the Tibetans. The princess stopped here on the way to Lhasa and the Temple/Lamasery was located about 15 km/9.3 miles from Yushu.
The Khampa Tibetan Wedding Ceremony in Yushu, China
Inside the hotel banquet room, at least 500 guests...View image... were sitting around tables eating and being entertained by dancers on the stage...View image while waiting the bride and groom. The bridal party formed a procession in the lobby, entered the large banquet hall and walked onto the stage...View image... where an emcee made a lengthy speech and welcomed the guests on behalf of the family.
The Head Lama, also referred to as a "living Buddha", then said prayers over them and placed Katas, white scarves, around their necks. The bride and groom continued by putting white scarves on each other and they were married. As simple as that. The room was darkened briefly and sparklers were set off. With that, all the guests jumped up and formed a line to congratulate the married couple and place more white scarves around their necks.
A High Class Tibetan Wedding in Yushu, China: The Bride and Groom Arrive
There were some finely dressed Khampa Tibetans inside the San Jiang Yuang Hotel this morning setting up the large banquet room for a Tibetan wedding. They were busily spreading food, cigarettes, candy and liquor on all the round tables...View image. When Dondup and Mr. Wang arrived to straighten out our room problems, I asked them to find out what was happening. Got the poop that a wedding should take place around 11:00 a.m. That gave us plenty of time for breakfast and visits to the Mani stones and Guidje Monastery before the wedding begins.
FYI: When you register at a Chinese hotel, the personnel scan your passport, visa and transmit to the local police. If you are persona non-grata, the police will arrive at the hotel in no time flat for a little chat.
Tibet's Largest Pile of Mani Stones, Jani Mani Town, Yushu, China
Around 5km/3 miles west of Yushu is Tibet's largest collection of Mani stones in Xinzhai village. A Mani stone is inscribed with "Om mani padme hum" (a mantra used as a prayer in Tibetan Buddhism) and placed along roadsides, in mounds and long walls, as an offering to the spirits. This particular landmark is called Jia'na Mani Heap, and has over 2.5 billion Mani stones...View image...piled on roofs, ground and walls. Not only is this "mani" heap in the Guinness Book of Records, it is also considered to be the world's largest shrine in the form of a wall Wouldn't you just love to know who counted the 2.5 billion stones? The stones have been placed by pilgrims and traders from Sichuan, Lhasa and Xining who made their way through Yushu and sometimes rested for several weeks.
Stones were taken away in the past but the site has been re-sanctified. The huge mass of stones and prayer flags makes quite a sight but the pilgrims circumambulating the complex at all hours is endlessly fascinating. Walking clockwise on the kora circuit, individual prayer wheels spinning in the right hand, prayer beads in the left, mumuring om mani padme om around the entire length and prostrating themselves before the temple...View image.. Visit in the morning when the majority of pilgrims come to pray...View image...
Not An Auspicious Beginning to The Yushu Stay, China
Some sort of huge party took place last night at the San Jiang Yuan Hotel with loud music thumping away until 2:00 a.m. Finally asleep, ex-Marine shook me awake to ask, "Why did you turn all the room lights on?" I didn't turn anything on but turned them off and rolled back over. Fifteen minutes later, the lights back on. Turned lights off once more (take that you poltergeist) and this time took the card out of the wall slot that controls the electricity so we'd have no more of that. (Don't know if you are familiar with this but many hotels in Europe and Asia control their electricity in this fashion. No card in slot, no electricity.) At 5:15 a.m., the lights went on again even though there shouldn't have been any electricity without the card.
Steaming, and knowing we'd have to change rooms since there was obviously a short circuit, I am wide awake. The hotel room had a tea kettle to boil water for either tea or coffee. TIP: None of the hotels in remote China make coffee and we always bring a small jar of instant coffee to make our own. Plugged in the kettle, and all the room lights blew, scaring the S*#! out of me. Not only did the lights blow but now the electronic keys that operate the locked door won't work.
A High Pass to Yushu Crossed from Amdo into Kham, China
We were still on the move and Mr. Wang pulled over occasionally for pee breaks, and to buy wild mushrooms from Nomads along the road who were selling...View image, and sorting until it was time for lunch in a small town.
Inside restaurant number one, Mr. Wang pitched a fit and walked us out in a huff after they refused to cook his mushrooms. Into another one where a traditionally dressed Khampa woman and her husband were selling their mushrooms spread out on a cloth for the restaurant owner to pick through...View image. This woman was wearing all her coral jewelry and a traditional Kham hat lined in real sheep's wool. No problems here with management because they agreed to cook Mr. Wang's mushrooms. Now in a good mood, he clowned around with the beautiful hat and we settled into a private room for another delicious lunch. (Chinese restaurants usually have small private rooms to eat in.)
The Tibetan Nomads of The Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China
We are definitely going to Yushu today. Our Annapurna, Nepal trek to base camp altitude was only 4,120m/13,471', took eight days of hiking to reach and Maduo is higher then that. Neither one of us could breathe last night but ex-Marine has a sensitivity to altitude and is worse than I am. At least Yushu is over 3,000 feet lower than Maduo and that should help.
A delicious noodle soup breakfast and getting on the way, a big semi pulled in next to the Land Cruiser, loaded with little piggies going to market. You wouldn't believe how many times I've seen these trucks on the road in various countries, tried to get a photo of the piggies with tails and/or snouts sticking out and never could, and here one pulls up right next to us...View image. (I like pigs, they have personality.)
Unusual Road Sights Along The Eastern Tibetan Plateau, China
Did you know that different manufacturers in China make little three-wheeled electric automobiles? Neither did we until this trip driving through remote areas where we first noticed bright red, three-wheeled autos being used as taxis in small towns. BESTAR manufactures "Smartcar", HEV International "FL3", and Shandong Huoyun Electric - the "Wildfire." They all get approximately 60 miles to the gallon but are primitive by our standards. No airbags or other crash protection, shoulder-only seat belts, a speedometer and gas gauge on the dashboard and manual transmission. Think of these mini-compacts as a cycle, commuter car, delivery van or taxi like the Chinese.
- Instead of "slow-down" signs, the Chinese just hoist smashed up cars...View image... on a post along the road to use as a deterrent.
The Solar Eclipse in Route from Gonghe to Maduo, China
Today's ride from Gonghe to Maduo would cover 370 kms/230 miles and take 6-7 hours with not much to do but sit back and enjoy the natural scenery of the plateau. Maduo County is set at an altitude of 4,300m/14,107' above sea level Now any idiot looking over the itinerary pre-trip would have thought, "Wait a minute, we're going to go from 4,000' to 14,107', a 10,000' ascent in one day? This is just asking for trouble!" And...so it was.
But I digress. Our first local breakfast in Gonghe was eaten in a tiny "restaurant" (I'm being charitable) with perhaps 11 locals crammed into a space the size of a small closet...View image...located on the local market square...View image. Once you get outside the large cities, the majority of the hotels/guesthouses don't serve meals and we'd have to get used to eating Chinese food three times a day. The steamed buns with spinach were wonderful, the watery black bean soup was not. Pass on the black bean soup, eat buns. The locals eating here were fascinated with us and we with them. Lots of ni haos/hellos all around and smiles while those who spoke a few words of English tried to them out.
The E Ba Tantric/Tantra Sect Temple in Guba Village, Eastern Tibetan Plateau
Leaving the Chinese tourists posing with their white yaks and camels, we forged ahead uphill to another temple...View image... at Mt. Riyue lined in tiles depicting Princess Wencheng's journey...View image...and a "border stone" (just a big rock delineating the border between Qinghai and Sichuan Provinces)... View image...before getting back into the car, and continuing towards Gonghe.
Past fields of yaks, many that looked like they were molting with huge chunks of fur falling off their sides. According to Dondup, yaks only molt if the grass isn't good. Dondup is a Tibetan from Labrang/Xiahe , the most important Tibetan monastery town outside of Tibet that we visited two years ago, and if anybody knows about yaks, it is Dondup. A little more Tibetan yak information. Each Tibetan family has what they refer to as a "big family of yaks" and "small family of yaks." The big family stays in the grassland all winter while the small family is wintered at the winter home.
Mt. Riyue, Sun and Moon Mountain Mountain in The Kham Region, China
The Kham trip began in earnest as we left Xining and headed to Mt. Riyue, Sun and Moon Mountain, past the brilliantly yellow fields of rapeseed (think Canola oil)...View image... growing on terraces. Many traffic hold-ups because the Qinghai Lakes Bicycle Race was using part of the route today on Stage 5. There were crowds standing along the road...View image, sitting on hills...View image, all waiting for the bicyclists to make their way past on this very difficult stage with a higher altitude than yesterday.
Mr. Riyue was once called "Red Mountain" because of the red earth and stone here. The short story goes: "...Princess Wencheng was sent to the west to marry the Prince of Tufan during the Tang Dynasty and passed Mt. Riyue (Ri Yue) where she spent some time. A "Sun & Moon Treasure Mirror" given to her by the Empress slipped out of her hand and broke. From that day on, the mountain was given the name "Mt. Riyue" and a temple was built at the foot of the mountain in memory of Princess Wencheng..." I must have missed something in the translation. What does the broken mirror have to do with Mt. Riyue?
Xining and The Tour of Qinghai Lakes Pro Bicycle Race, China
It was time for the Khampa Tibetan Eastern Plateau portion to begin in Xining. Off the Air China plane, Mr. Wang and new guide, Dondup, were waving and waiting for us in the arrival hall at Xining airport. Even if Mr. Wang hadn't recognized us, it wouldn't have been difficult to pick out the only two Westerners on the entire plane. Hugs, the first of the many translations by Dondup (Mr. Wang doesn't speak English) and transfer to the very nice Yinlong Hotel for one night.
ex-Marine and I had schlepped a few small gifts for Mr. Wang. What do you bring a Chinese resident when everything is made in China? A fleece blanket, Chicago baseball hat, pair of leather driving gloves and, wouldn't you know, everything but the gloves were made in China even though we bought them in America. Mr. Wang has one daughter who is now 12 years old and his free-lance driver business is thriving, escorting tourists all over China, through remote areas and not so remote areas.
Air China's First Class Lounge, Capital Airport, Beijing
One of the most important status perks United Airlines gives their loyal 1K passengers is the ability to use United Airlines Lounges, and also Star Alliance Partner Lounges when traveling internationally. We headed back to Beijing's Capital Airport at 5:30 a.m. for an Air China flight to Xining in Qinghai Province, departing a 8:20 a.m.
There are no traffic problems to the airport at this time of the day but make sure you allow enough time to make it through Beijing's gridlock during rush hour. Tell your taxi driver whether or not you are flying Domestic or International (different drop off points) and what airline! TIP: Ask your hotel doorman to give these instructions to the driver in Chinese just to be safe.
Planning The Kham Area Eastern Tibetan Plateau Trip
Air? Flew United Airlines non-stop Chicago to Being and then used air miles for a economy, open jaw ticket on Air China. Beijing to Xining and Chengdu back to Beijing. There are many different gateways into this region and I suggest checking out BookingBuddy's Top Travel Deals newsletter and Kayak.com to figure out what's best for you.
Hotels? We booked two extra days pre-trip in Beijing to revisit and do a little recovering from jet lag. I waffled back and forth over booking a simple but small Chinese-style hotel or a moderate, modern hotel, and completely eliminated expensive five-star hotels from the budget. Pondering...but we'd be staying in typical Chinese hostels, and small hotels during the Kham exploration. Instead, opted for a Days Inn. Before you turn up your nose, this Days Inn is inexpensive, located within spitting distance of the Forbidden City and busy Wufujing Street. Also needed a hotel in Chengdu for the end of the trip and chose a Holiday Inn located in the outskirts of Chengdu but with free transportation to the center and, again, inexpensive.
ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I paid a visit to a small portion of Tibet's Eastern Plateau in 2007 and loved the remoteness, nomads, snow-capped mountains, monasteries and still vibrant Tibetan culture. We worked our way from Qinghai Province, through Gansu Province, and ended up in Sichuan concentrating on an intensive study of Tibetan Khampa culture
An itinerary from Wilderness Travel, "Heart of Kham" was included in their 2008 catalog visiting the area west of Chengdu, another area we had yet to see. This area of the Tibetan Plateau is known as Kham, home of the famous Khampa warriors with tall leather boots, turquoise jewelry and portions of this trip involved camping (no other "decent" facilities). Big sigh from ex-Marine who detests climbing in and out of the tents. It was considered an adventurous overland and camping journey with hikes on pilgrimage paths along holy lakes, ancient trading towns and the annual Litang Horse Festival. A grudging okay and we booked on the July, 2008 departure along with friends dating back to our old Pakistan Hunza Trip, Margie and Art, also run by Wilderness Travel.
Know Before You Go - The Khampa Area of China, Eastern Tibetan Plateau
ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I recently returned from an intensive few weeks on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau. Steve, with a serious eye infection of all things, and myself with an array of tips, suggestions and trivia. Some can be used in other countries besides China and here we go...
- Bring as many medical supplies as will fit in your suitcase. You will need a Doctor's prescription for anything serious (unlike India, Thailand and Indonesia where everything is over the counter). In a very remote area, there are no Doctors or Pharmacies. Despite carrying everthing but the kitchen sink, ex-Marine's eye infection required an Ophthalmologist to clear up back home.
- Take a small jar of instant coffee with if you are a coffee drinker. You can either bring into a restaurant or or boil water in your room with a teapot (usually found in almost every small and big hotel). Be careful in local places. They traditionally do not have coffee cups, not all even use tea cups and either pour the boiling water in tiny paper cups or glasses. Many restaurants send their dishes out to be washed and they are returned in plastic wrap. Wouldn't I love to do that!
We Ate Our Way Across The Eastern Tibetan Plateau - 40 Different Dishes in 15 Days
That is correct, 40 different Chinese dishes in 15 days. The Chinese people love to eat...give three cheers...and so say all of us. We ate three meals a day, beginning with a breakfast of dumplings or noodle soup (made with fresh noodles in front of our eyes). Some humble dumplings were absolutely wonderful, while others so-so, and never cooked the same way twice. Steamed with different fillings of meat, vegetables, spicy and/or sweet, they were always filling.
The same menus are served for both lunch and dinner in China but we ended up not gaining a single pound for two reasons. The Chinese don't eat heavy, sugared desserts, e.g. cake, pies which I happen to love at home. Desserts are my weakness and I don't intend to give them up! And, the slivers of pork, chicken, yak meat, incorporated into any dish is so infinitesimal that it would be impossible to gain weight no matter how much you eat. ex-Marine and I would even have whispered conversations, "Do you think there could possibly be one-quarter ounce of pork in this?"
Travel Advice: The Beijing, China Sights Are Endless
If you are a first-timer in Beijing, your time will probably be limited and tours included. The tours are excellent and will visit the main attractions and highlights. The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, The Great Wall, Drum Tower, Wafujing Street, eat a duck dinner, Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao Zedong where Mao rests in his glass sarcophagus (if he's not "traveling" to Russia for a little touch-up), Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace. This was our itinerary in 1989 and we'd return to the hotel at night completely zonked out and unable to move. Try (if at all possible) to hit one of the markets, walk down Food Street and see Beihai, Houhai or Jingshan Park in the early morning (doesn't have to be 6:00 a.m., they are still lively around 9:00 a.m.). This may have to wait for a return to Beijing.
Don't think you've seen it all. You haven't. This is Travels With Sheila's "must see" list for the "next time" (hopefully)...
Sights in Beijing - The Imperial Garden of Jingshan Park (Coal Hill)
Another very early morning (around 8:20 a.m.) to explore the Beijing area north of the Days Inn Forbidden City (so named because it is only a few blocks walk from the Forbidden City. Smart tourists begin walking early in the morning during Beijing's very hot and humid summers or you may literally pass out from heat stroke. On the way towards the Forbidden City's north entrance (Shenwumen Gate), we were astounded by the tour groups milling around, waiting for the entrance to open.
ex-Marine and I debated whether or not we wanted to revisit The Forbidden City from this direction instead of the usual south entrance but then I happened to glance across the street and my eyes were drawn upwards to a Chinese Pavilion sitting above the trees...View image. We crossed, read a sign telling about Jingshan Park and decided to pay the small entrance fee...View image. Bought a beautifully illustrated map and entered since we had never visited before. (Had to buy a new sunhat first from a vendor outside...) Jingshan Park, or Coal Hill, was built using earth left over from the digging of the Imperial moat and was the highest point in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty.
Sights in Beijing - Imperial Palaces and Gardens in Xicheng District
Beihai Park was built 1,000 years ago and is one of the oldest and best preserved imperial gardens in China. It is laid out in the "one lake and three hills" style and includes places of historical interest: Qiong Islet, Taiye Lake, the Heavenly King Hall, White Dagoba of Tibetan style and the Nine-Dragon Screen made of colorful glazed bricks. (We saw the oldest and largest glazed screen in Datong, China last year.)
The number nine is considered lucky in China and a Chinese dragon has nine attributes, nine forms and nine children. A "Nine Dragon Wall" is a screen wall with images of nine different and large dragons as well as small dragons along the edge, found in imperial palaces and gardens. Since the number "nine" was considered the number of the emperor, only the most senior officials were allowed to wear nine dragons on their robes and that is why the Nine Dragon Screens are so important.
Sights in Beijing - Exclusive and New Shopping Malls
The majority of the stores in the Wangfujing area cater to the high-end market. Wangfujing is always crowded with sightseers making their way down the pedestrian only street, window shopping, eating, listening to music and venues. There are several new malls that have recently opened in this area.
Jinbao Place has international brands like Gucci, Burberry and more, but unlike other shopping centers in Beijing, there are no cosmetics outlets. Instead, there are home and lifestyle outlets. There is also a cinema, art center and flagship showrooms of the world's top automobiles including Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati and more. (Go in and just drool.) The new Regent Hotel, Legendale Hotel and Beijing Hong Kong Jockey Clubhouse are nearby.
Sights in Beijing - Yashow Clothing and Hong Quio Pearl Markets
Even though we were in Beijing on a weekend when the fabulous Panjiayuan Market - known as the Dirt Market - operates, I showed great restraint and didn't go, still in mourning over the table I had to leave behind on the last trip because it was too heavy to carry through China. If this had been the end of this trip, we definitely would have visited and bought something
The Yashow Clothing Market in Sanlitun District is another one of my usual stops while in Beijing for cheapy, cheapy clothes, shoes, purses, suitcases, coats, jewelry, toys, electronics, and the list goes on and on.. Once again, I always come away with a purse and the last purchase from last year is still sitting on my shelf, never used. China makes fantastic and beautiful copies. There are five floors of almost anything a person could buy or want and we usually walk away with something. In anticipation of heavy shopping, an extra roll-up bag was tucked in the suitcase, but not this trip. I really, really, did my best and spent hours looking, trying on, fending off the cute and persistent salesgirls who cry, "Lady, you are killing me..." when you bargain down the price, all in vain.
Sights in Beijing - Food Street (Donghuamen Night Market)
Food Street (Donghuamen Night Market)...View image... first made an appearance in Beijing around 1984 and has been attracting locals and tourists who come to gawk at the very unusual snacks since then. Vendors and servers begin setting up their carts around 5:00 p.m. every night dressed in identical uniforms of white shirts and red aprons. Food Street stretches for 1km/.6mi, beginning at busy Wafujing Street and goes on until the wee hours.
We always visit to see what new critters and beasties are on the menu, making our way through huge crowds of Chinese who are also working their way past the line of stalls, looking, photographing and buying. Standing around gnawing on gigantic lamb bones...View image. Brandishing skewers of meat, kidneys, lamb, shellfish, silkworms, bean curd and carmelized (candied) fruits...View image... that glistened in the sun.
Sights in Beijing - Nanlouguxiang Old Hutong to Houhai Lake
There are hotels and a youth hostel called the "Peking Downtown Backpackers Accommodation" (Dongtang Inn) with excellent rates...View image, and double-bedded rooms available along with dorms. You can also rent bicycles at the hostel and bicycles still appeared to be the main form of transportation in the hutong unlike the rest of Beijing. Or, hire a pedicab to take you around this large area...View image
Don't think life in a hutong is, or was, wonderful for the people. Hutongs still house about half of Beijing's population (7 million people) and are modest in size. A hutong began with one courtyard house, and then another would build next to it and so on until there were square blocks of one neighborhood hutong. For the majority of Chinese, one house has been subdivided and shared by many households with additions tacked on later as needed. They were always built with bricks and wood and very few still have private toilets or washrooms. If you lived like this, wouldn't you want to move into one of Beijing's modern flats? Most of the locals feel the same and really don't care that the old hutongs are being torn down and replaced.
ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I began walking about 8:40 a.m. from the Days Inn towards Nanlouguxiang, one of the best preserved Hutong areas in Downtown Beijing. a "hutong" is a neighborhood of narrow streets or alleys occupied by traditional courtyard, siheyuan residences. Nanlouguxiang has a history of more than 700 years and is one of Beijing's oldest hutong areas and a historical protection area since 1990...View image. We entered from the southern end at Di'anmen on Ping'an Dajie, following the signs...View image...
The majority of the more than 30 cafes, bars...View image, tour operators...View image, clothing and handicraft shops were still closed this early in the morning. Most are decorated in traditional Chinese style while still others use the courtyards to create a lively atmosphere. The shops may have been closed but it wasn't too early for delivery people, locals and other tourists who enjoyed the relative coolness and quiet at this hour.
Flying From Chicago to Beiing, China Is So Easy to Do
It is such a pleasure to get on an airplane and arrive at your destination without any problem, let alone one hour early even though it was raining cats and dogs in Beijing. United Airlines' flying time was a little over 12 hours in brilliant sunshine two-thirds of the way and cloudless over the snow, glaciers and ice-packed expanses of Alaska, The Aleutian Islands and down over Siberia. Incredibly gorgeous viewing.
Before disembarking, all passengers had to fill out health forms (fears of Swine Flu - H1N1) then make our way through the wide expanses of Beijing's new Terminal 3 to have temperature checked by walking past sensors, hand in health forms, take the train between terminals to customs and pick up suitcases. Capital Airport is beautiful and easy to negotiate with great signage in English and Chinese. It is absolutely not necessary to use the money changing kiosks outside baggage claim for Chinese Yuan. There are ample ATM's if you look left as you exit the baggage area.
I really, really hate to give away my finds and you are probably thinking, "Days Inn, is she nuts? Who would go to Beijing and stay at a Days Inn!" ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I were walking through a park and down a small street on our last Beijing visit, spitting distance from the Forbidden City, and there was a Days Inn in this unexpected location. It looked nice, the location was incredible, and I tucked this hotel into what's left of my memory bank for a possible stay in the future.
Time for Beijing again and I vacillated back and forth on what hotel to choose. Five-star luxury hotels were out and I remembered the Days Inn Forbidden City. It didn't look like a dump, had reasonable rates that included breakfast, cable television, Internet access and air conditioning (Beijing summers are brutally hot). What kind of breakfast? Not quite sure and I dearly love Asia's huge buffet breakfasts with everything on it from American to Chinese foods. Took the leap of faith and booked. After all, it did a have a fabulous location, was owned by a warlord inside the Imperial City over 100 years ago and the rate was approximately $80 U.S. a night including everything. Such a deal....
I'm forever being asked, "What's your favorite country?" To which I reply, "Where? Europe, Asia, Africa? Pick one continent and I'd still have trouble deciding on a favorite." There is so much to see and do anywhere you go, but I can narrow it down (not easy, and I left off Vietnam, another wonderful country to visit) to my 7 favorite "Asian countries, two with populations in the billions, and all with friendly, helpful people. Here we go, listing the smaller countries first....
- Cambodia. Cambodia has the Khmer temples of Angkor Wat, chaotic but interesting Phnom Penh, the beaches of Sihanoukville, don't miss the Genocide museum/prison, good food and gorgeous hotels ranging from extreme luxury to rock bottom. I could happily veg out in Siem Riep (gateway for the temples of Angkor Wat) for several days and do nothing. The country shares borders on the north with Thailand and Laos, and Vietnam on the east.
Based on our experiences through Central China and keeping in mind that one man's meat is another man's poison, here goes What to See:
- The first eight days in Shanxi Province was the most interesting part of the entire trip. The fantastic Yungang Grottoes; DON'T MISS the Hanging Monastery; extremely engrossing Pingyao Ancient City; Jinci Si Temple and Gardens; Wang Family Compound; and Wutai Shan would have been another plus if the weather had cooperated.
- The train system throughout China is easy with help. I don't know if we could have managed buying the tickets ourselves and communicating with the almost always non-English speaking train personnel. Suggest paying a little extra and having your hotel/guesthouse/hostel do the hassle over the train tickets. It's worth it.
Just A Little More Hangzhou and Food Street, China
What else to do in Hangzhou? There were so many other sights in Hangzhou that we never got to. A hike up the bamboo-lined path at Yunqi, the Baopu Taoist Temple, the Chenhuang (Town God) Pavilion, Leifeng Pagoda built in 975 AD and collapsed in 1924 because locals stole the bricks to make magic medicine, and Yue Fei's Temple (a national hero). We always missed the timing of the Music Dancing Fountain along West Lake and never did walk across the two causeways with "lingering snow on the broken bridge."
Where to stay in Hangzhou? Hangzhou is loaded with an infinite variety of hotels and guesthouses for every price range. Sofitel Xanadu Resort, Radisson Plaza and Shangri La are just a few of the many 5*****.
Hangzhou, China: Lingyin Temple, Dragon Well Tea and The Medicine King
Not a great day for sightseeing (dreary and raining) but what can one do. Mao Mao picked us up early for a hectic day with much to see. First up was Soul Retreat Temple (Lingyin Temple)...View image..., built in 326 AD. This is one of the best known Buddhist monasteries in China with magnificent muntains and trees around. A very scenic spot even if it has been destroyed and restored at least 16 times. Mao Mao said that the big incense sticks are usually the cause of fires in the Temples and warned us not to get set ablaze ourselves. Incense sticks waving everywhere...
The Victoria Regal Hotel loaned us umbrellas, and an early start got us to Linygin Si Temple by 9:00 am, ahead of the main tourist crush. Approximately 10,000 people visit daily and 1,000,000 on May 1. Do not expect to have this temple to yourself.
Another free and sunny day. Perfect for exploring the lake area of Hangzhou. There are 36 lakes in China called Xi Hu but this one is the most famous and the symbol of Hangzhou. It was originally a lagoon but was dredged and, subsequently, a dike cut it off from the river.
Quite a few options for getting around West Lake:
- you can wave down the "Round The Lake Sightseeing Golf Cart";
- Rent a bicycle (free rental for the first hour) at one of the 27 rental/drop off points on the lake; walk; and/or
- Take one of the very cheap buses (2 yuan - $.25) that are constantly circling West Lake, get off and sightsee whenever you choose to.
Not only is Hangzhou (pronounced "Han-Joe") extremely popular with both Chinese tourists and Westerners but it is also the country's most famous tourist attraction (along with Guilin) for the Chinese. Less than 2 hours by bullet train from Shanghai, a favorite and easy accessible weekend destination for them. Hangzhou was linked with the Grand Canal in 610 AD and Marco Polo passed this way in the 13th century leaving raves behind. The Mongols, Taipings and Cultural Revolution managed to destory most of the city and almost everything remaining has been reconstructed.
Met at the Hangzhou airport by new guide, Mao Mao (pronounced: Mao-mah) and transfered to the Victorian Regal Hotel within walking distance of everything. Newly married Mao Mao has only been guiding for a short time and loves it (not burned out yet). Showed us her wedding pictures and told us that bride and groom traditionally pose for formal portraits six-months before the wedding. The Victorian Regal Hotel has only been opened for four months and is still getting the kinks out. However, it is drop-dead gorgeous with a wonderful staff. They showed us to a third floor room with its own little deck area to sit out on. ...View image
... Not that we had the time and/or inclination to sit outside in the very hot and humid weather without wilting... But we could see the Ching Huang Pavilion, also called "Heavenly Wind at Wushan Hall" lit up a night.
Some more cautionary information on the traffic situation in China:
- You do not have the right away in the Chinese driver's way of thinking. They don't care if the light is green...View image...or red...View image..., they'll run you down;
- Cars, trucks, buses will cut across three lanes of traffic without looking;
- Everyone drives into opposing traffic to pass; ...View image...
- No one wears helmets; and
- The police just stand there and watch.
Dengfeng Food and Zhengzhou, China Capital of Henan Province
Dengfeng is a quiet town at the foot of Taishi Shan. Only night here at the Shaolin International Hotel before driving to Zhengzhou for the last trip in Henan Province. Chao, Andy, ex-Marine and I walked a few blocks away (passing another restaurant with a strange sign...View image) from the Shaolin International for dinner in another local restaurant. If you've never eaten in a "local" Chinese restaurant, prepare for an unbelievable level of noise. The owner screaming out orders to his wife, waitresses...diners shouting to be heard over that...but the best food ever. Many readers and friends haven't been enthralled with Chinese Food in China but that's because they may never have had a chance to experience a local restaurant with someone who knows how to order.
And the costs for four people! Chao ordered (2) leafy vegetable something or another (one tasted very cheesy); (1) leafy cold salad that tasted similar to radishes in a vinaigrette; another cold dish that resembled peanuts or lima beans with peppers; huge platter of sweet and sour pork; cold beer, water, soft drinks; and Lo Mah (Watch video below). The grand total was 115 yuan or less than $17 U.S. Unbelievably delicious.
Around and In Shaolin Temple and Pagoda Forest, China
At one time, 3,000 monks lived at Shaolin Temple but now there are less than 350. Students pay around 7,000 yuan (approximately $1,000 U.S.) to study here for just one year and Kung Fu/Wushu devotees come from all around the world.
Lunchtime at a restaurant on the grounds of Shaolin with a unique variety of food on the English/Chinese menu. Monkey brains, pigs heart and many, many other items not to our taste. We ate pork with garlic sauce and Kung Pao chicken...no gourmet versions for us. They were wonderful and I wish I could muster up my courage to try some of these "different" food...
Shaolin Temple, The Birthplace of Kung Fu/Wushu, China
On the road again to Shaolin Temple, possibly the most famous temple in China. Not only because of its long history and role in Chinese Buddhism, but because of its martial arts. "Wushu" or Kung Fu is China's most famous martial arts tradition. We were scheduled to watch a Kung Fu/Wushu performance, visit the Pagoda Forest and Shaolin's various temples. From what I understand, you never see the masters doing Kung Fu, only the younger students and thousands enroll every year at Shaolin's martial arts schools.
We pulled up to Shaolin, visited the absolutely 5***** public toilets...View image...View image..., bought tickets and started the walk into the complex. Fields filled with students everywhere you looked, working intensely on their exercises. They run 10k/6.2 miles every morning and practice 5-7 hours a day. There are at least 3,000 students enrolled in the various schools, most hoping to become the next Jet Li or Jackie Chan, appearing together in a new movie, The Forbidden Kingdom. Jet Li is the favorite because he studied at Shaolin Temple and made it big.
After finishing up with the Peony Festival, Chao suggested an additional excursion after lunch out to a cave town, a middle valley village not too far from Luoyang. At one time, the entire village was built underground but progress came along and only one family still lived in their original underground home. This little side trip wasn't going to be free but what the heck, there was nothing else to do.
First lunch at a different restaurant Chao picked with a few very strange items on the menu and wall... View image... (There were photos on this menu and Andy translated...lots of dishes with fish heads in them....) While there, we learned a few other random facts about China:
- Beijing has about 800 star-rated hotels with 130,000 rooms, not counting guesthouses, etc. For comparison sake, Las Vegas has just over 132,000 rooms. If you visit Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, a budget hotel will run approximately $250/night, luxury hotel $700/night and most are completely booked.
- The Chinese say they have three mountains on their shoulders: Medical care, housing and education.
White Horse Temple and the Annual Luoyang Peony Show, China
The White Horse Temple (Baima Si) was built by the Han Dynasty in 68 AD when Buddhism started to spread. This temple is believed to be the first Buddhist temple built by the Government in China, and is regarded as the "originating court" and "cradle of Chinese Buddhism" by the Buddhist disciples. It is this that makes it an important Temple to visit. The story goes: A Tang dynasty monk went searching for Buddhist scriptures. He met two Indian monks in Afghanistan and returned to Luoyang with Buddhist scriptures and statues on the backs of two white horses. The temple was founded to house them and named after the horses. There are two stone horses by the entrance and tombs of the two monks inside the first courtyard. (Watch the video below...)
There are many pavilions. The Guest Hall, Hall of Prayer, Hall of Abstinence, living quarters of the monks, all reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), My thoughts? Other than the iris in bloom and an original ancient horse, I was again underwhelmed... However, it was peaceful in the early morning stillness with people lighting incense sticks and praying. It was just another beautiful temple to us non-Buddhists and worth seeing only for the reasons above. FYI: Andy strongly suggests not to buy bottled water at White Horse Temple. According to him, the locals fill used plastic water bottles with tap water and reseal them perfectly!
The clear blue skies here were a marked contrast to our views of Luoyang most mornings from our hotel room....View image...and, this image was taken on a clearer day!
Visiting and Exploring the Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang, China
Luoyang, pop: 7,000,000, is located in one of China's smallest provinces, Henan Province. It may be one of the smallest provinces but is also the most densely populated. The Yellow River crosses Henan and Chinese civilization can be tracked back around 3,500 years in this area with a few remaining sections of its original walls in the old city. Luoyang was also the capital of 13 dynasties.
Enough of that...lunch. Chao ("Chow") is a man after my own heart and really knows his way around food. The first restaurant chosen had Henan cuisine. Chao and Andy would be with us for the next 5 days and we explained our dietary rules once again. No dog, cat, rat, snake or other unusual beasties. Like spicy foods. Explain to us what the dish contains and we'll yea or nay. Whatever it was, very delicious and happy that Andy asked for extra chopsticks to use on the serving plates as serving utensils instead of us all dipping chopsticks back and forth into the communal plates. I know this is Chinese tradition but I'd prefer not to go along with tradition in this instance. One of the first things I noticed were the newly washed and sanitized dishes delivered by a service at the front door of the restaurant. We saw that on the Eastern Tibetan Plateau last year. If only a service would come to my house, take the dirty dishes and return them nice and clean. ...Oops, that's right......that person is me!
From the Wang Family Compound, a drive back to Taiyun (prounounced "Taiwan") for the overnight train, actually a 12-hour overnight train, to Luoyang in Henan Province. Back on one of China's excellent major highways with the crazy drivers passing on the left, on the right, shoulders....they are nuts!
The majority of Shanxi Province is filled with homes built into the hillside dirt of winding crevasses and anytime there is an inch of tillable land, you'll find narrow fields at the bottom. At first, it didn't dawn on us that these were houses until we passed a few entire villages built into the dirt hillside....View image...
Jenny came with us into the soft seat waiting room where we went through the same routine as before:
- Show tickets to enter soft seat waiting room
- x-ray bags
- Twenty to 30 minutes before train time, the gates open and everyone heads for the train.
Shanghai Far East added in two other visits to replace the aborted and snowed out Wutai Shan. We rolled our suitcases through Pingyao's busy streets, even this early in the day, to Mr. Wong waiting with the car, and headed south a short distance (only 5km/3.1mi away) to Shuanglin Si Temple...View image... This temple was originally built in the Northern Wei and all the buildings were arranged around three courtyards, Ming and Qing.
It is the collection of Buddhist sculptures that people come to see. There are horsemen, depictions of Buddha, sainas and guardians, Guanyin (the Goddess of Mercy) and monsters. We basically were underwhelmed but there was one interesting fact. The only reason this temple was spared during the Cultural Revolution was because the surrounding farmers used it to store their crops and intelligently pointed out to the Guards that they would have no place to put them if the Shuanglin Si was burnt to the ground.
Pingyao was the undisputed financial headquarters of China during the Qing dynasty. Baichuan Tong, Rischengchang Exchange and Sie Tong Qing were three of the most powerful banks.
- Rishengchang Exchange Shop (Financial House Museum) ...View image...is where a man named Li introduced a systems of checks and deposits. His system became a bank (established in1824) that prospered for over 100 years. It wasn't until the Japanese invasion that Rishengchang closed. This museum had over 100 rooms, including offices, living quarters, kitchen and several old checks. Now, we had never stopped to think how banks operated before checks and deposits but once we saw the heavy old silver that had to be transported between towns, the light dawned.
In Pingyao, China: The Confucius Temple and Government Building
Today was some in-depth sightseeing of Pingyao with Jenny. You must buy an all-inclusive ticket that allows you to see all the sites in the area. They are valid for two days and it doesn't make any difference whether or not you only want to see one or two sites. You must buy the ticket - no exceptions, no exclusions.
First stop: The Confucius Temple, a national relic. ...View image... Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC) was the famous Chinese thinker and social philosopher. One of his famous quotes is: Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses. (ex-Marine had another so-called "quote" from his teenage years in one of the previous videos on Pingyao.) There are 87 sculptures of Confucius and his disciples in this temple and also an exhibitiion of the history of the ancient Chinese Examination including a Ming Dynasty examination paper from the 13th century.
Pingyao Ancient City was something else. From the moment the little golf cart dropped us off, a five-minute walk from Chang Yi Feng Inn...View image... - our "home" for the next three nights - until we left, Pingyao Ancient City was completely engrossing and fun. The Lantern Festival, held 15 days after the Chinese New Year, is possibly the only event that could have made Pingyao beyond perfect. Pingyao is one of the only complete walled cities left in China and an outstanding example of Chinese Han nationality cities during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is located on an old route between Beijing and Xian and became a thriving merchant town.
All the hotels within the city were once old houses that have been turned into guesthouses. Our room's decor was typical Chinese-style with the mattress laid over a brick foundation. In olden days, hot coals would have been placed in the bricks at night to heat the room. We sure could have used them the first night since our modern heater didn't work. Buried under three extremely heavy quilts, I slept in all my clothes. We had surprisingly comfortable buckwheat filled pillows and a very modern bathroom. (They changed our room the next day to one with a working heater.)
After lunch, a visit to the Qiao Compound. This was the last stop today before Pingyao. After experiencing the unbelievable road sights of Ethiopia, China couldn't hold a candle in comparison (and I do my best not to compare trips). Unless you call Sinopec Gas Stations (China's main gasoline provider), trucks carrying coal and oil, and fields with huge steel, generating and coal processing plans, stuck in the middle of them "interesting."
The ornate Qiao Family Compound was first built in 1756 in the Qing Dynasty by Qiao Zhi Yong. Qiao made his money in Baotou (in Inner Mongolia) and became wealthy running banks, pawnshops and teahouses. The huge compound has been renovated twice, enlarged once and has six big courtyards, 19 small courtyards and contains over 300 rooms. (And we think we're building mega-mansions...) Qiao Family Compound has been converted into a museum and has period furnishings distributed throughout.
...was our lunch stop at Kang Zhuang Eco-Gourmet Restaurant...View image.... What made this restaurant different from any other? The decor and a big Chinese wedding going on inside it. First of all, the restaurant was huge with a capital "H." Each area was decorated differently. One, modern. Another, huge fish tanks. Separate rooms for diner families. A see-through kitchen area with cooks carving an unedible vegetable into the shape of a rooster, plating foods, frying live turtles and other critters (fortunately, the turtles were the only ones I could identify), and wait staff rushing by with yummy smelling food. Even the reception area floor was built of clear glass (or plexi-glass) over a stream below it..
Jenny filled us in on this particular area's wedding customs. There are two days of celebration. The first day is for the groom's family and friends only. The second day for the bride's family and friends. Today, happened to be "groom day" and big festivities were taking place. A d.j. pumping out music....the bride and groom posing for their formal portraits outside in the gardens....little children dressed in their finest...
Taiyuan (pop: 4 million) is the capital city of Shanxi Province and accounts for more than half the national coal mining output (more haze). There isn't much to do in Taiyuan and the city functions primarily as transfer point for onward journeys to Xian and Pingyao. Regardless, the Longcheng International Hotel was gorgeous and they had the best breakfast buffet we'd eaten to date. (Wonderful bacon, our weakness...)
Wutai Shan Mountain (Five-Terrace Mountain) was definitely a "no-go." According to the morning internet, Wutai was -5c/22F at 8 am with a wind chill of -12/c/9F. The road was a sheet of ice and trails covered with snow. There was nothing else that could be changed or arranged on short notice (the May Day holiday was coming up). Conversation with Cindy (over possibilities and/or options) at Shanghai Far East and off we drove towards Pingyao with stops on the way. First stop, Jinci Temple complex. Today was sunny and beautiful with fruit trees and flowers blooming everywhere. ...View image...what a difference a lower altitude makes...
To be brutally honest, there's not very much to do in Taiyuan with the exception of the new Shanxi Museum complex with its huge cultural relics collection. There are over 200,000 pieces of precious relics - the cream of the entire province. The main building is shaped in a combination of two Chinese cooking vessels. A Dou (kind of measuring implement in ancient China), and Ding (an ancient cooking vessel with two loop handles and three or four legs). This gorgeous, modern museum (and we're not usually museum goers) is divided into two main sections:
- The History Section further divided into: The cradle of civilization; traces of Xia and Shang Dynasties; vassal state Jin...View image...; relics of Buddhism...View image...; operas; Shanxi merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties; and melting pot of different nationalities.
- The Art Section exhibits divided into: Paintings; calligraphy; chinaware; ancient currency; Jade and ancient architecture.
Still completely amazed by the Hanging Monastery and in our nice warm car with the heat blasting, we drove back down the mountain towards the Wooden Pagoda and lunch before the long drive to Wutai Shan.
The Wooden Pagoda (Mu Ta) in Yingxian County, was built during the Liao Dynasty (about 1056). It is the oldest and highest wooden structure in China and regarded as the "First Pagoda in the World." They also say that not one single nail was used to construct this massive 9-story Pagoda. ...View image... Decisions...lunch before or lunch after? Since we were both still cold, it made sense to stay outdoors and visit the Wooden Pagoda before warming up completely.
The Hanging Monastery (Xuankong Si) was about an 1-1/2 hour ride from Datong and if we thought yesterday was cold, today was freezing, 8c/40F. Long-sleeved shirts, fluff jackets with waterproofs over - the only cold weather gear we brought with. The entire area is higher in altitude (I know Wutai Shan rises to 3,000m/9,000') and it's a given that rain yesterday meant snow in these mountains.
The road to the Hanging Monastery wound through valleys and started climbing with a light drizzle off and on. As the car approached, ex-Marine and I were speechless at the sight of this itsy-bitsy building literally hanging from the side of a sheer cliff. And if that left us stupified, you should have seen our faces when we got out of the car. Tremendous gusts of wind, ice on the swinging bridge across to the Monastery and freezing cold! How cold was it? People were doing a landslide business RENTING Chinese Army coats to the tourists.
Datong's Nine Dragon Screen and Huayan Si Monastery, China
It was quite cool and dreary today. Unseasonably cool according to Jenny. Not only that but Datong was clouded by a thick pall of noxious fumes thanks to China's biggest coal mines in this area. As a matter of fact, one coal plant supplies all the electricity for Beijing! Our journey through Shaxi and Henan Provinces are considered the heartland of the Yellow River flowing for 3,400 miles through China. The Yellow River begins in the Plateau of Tibet and ends in the Bo Hai Sea. Unfortunately, the entire stretch is now lined with factories and coal power plants. Thousands of miners die every year in the usually unsafe mines.
But...it was time for lunch at a place where Mongolian Hot Pot is the local specialty. Neither of us have the patience for Mongolian Hot Pot. A cart with different ingredients is wheeled to your table and you decide which ones you want. In the center of the table is a big pot with a propane tank under it. The waitress pours boiling hot soup into the pot and you start cooking and mixing the various ingredients in it and chowing down. Instead of that, we selected plates of green vegetables with mushrooms, a huge dish of spicy chicken with peanuts and red chilis and Jenny insisted we try a local noodle and lamb concoction that wasn't to our taste. A little too bland but there was so much food without this! ...View image...
The Yungang Grottoes, China (Also Known as Cloud Ridge Caves)
We started the day by visiting the Yungang Grottoes (also known as Cloud Ridge Caves). It was a very short drive from Datong, only about 16km/10mi. The grottoes contain 252 caves and 51,000 statues carved during the Northern Wei dynasty in the 5th and 6th centuries. These caves are why most people (including us) visit Datong and represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China . The caves are cut into the southern cliffs ...View image...of Wuzhou Shan, next to the pass leading to Inner Mongolia...hmmm...Inner Mongolia...that's a thought... The caves were also modeled on the Magao Grottoes/Caves at Dunhuang on the Silk Road.
The caves are divided into three main groups: Early caves; caves with Yungang art; and caves carved in 460 AD with the Buddhas in each of these representing an emperor.
Training From Beijing to Datong, Shanxi Province, China
Stephanie (a guide from Shanghai Fareast) joined us at the Novotel, Beijing to help us find the proper train and seats on the "soft seat" fast train from Beijing West Railway Station to Datong, a 6-hour ride. On the taxi ride, Stephanie gave us a few statistics:
- There are over 70,000+ taxis in Beijing.
- Beijing population is now 16 million (give or take a few)
West Station, Xi Zhan, is Asia's largest rail terminal. A huge, beautiful and what turned out to be, easy to navigate train station. Large displays showing train number, track, departure time, etc. A "soft seat" waiting room. The routine for West Station was:
- Go to soft seat waiting room. They will not allow you to even step one foot in this area without showing your soft seat train ticket.
- Put all bags, handbags, backpacks through x-ray and have a seat.
- Twenty to 30 minutes before departure, rail staff open the entrance to the tracks and off you go.
- Find your numbered car
- Surrender the train ticket to the employee at the train car entrance. She gives you a cardboard facsimile in return which you exchange for the real ticket before arriving at the destination.
- Find your "soft seat" and that's it.
We had never trained on our own in China before and it was worth the extra cost to have someone show us the ropes.
Depressed about leaving the table behind at the Panjiayuan Market, I perked up when the taxi reached Yashow (also "Yashu") Market in the Sanlitun area. There's no end to the amount of 4-story buildings in Beijing selling pearls, jewelry, fake cds and dvds, clothing, i-Pods, computer accessories and on-and-on until a person comes has a nervous breakdown trying to make a decision on what to offer on stuff you never knew you needed until that moment. Visit Hongqiao Peark Market, Silk Street, 3.3 Clothing Market (also in Sanlitun), and many more...
I was determined to leave Beijing empty-handed....ha....ha....ha. Did I need another handbag? Like a root canal. I'm still using the three I bought two years ago that remarkably haven't fallen apart. But here I was, buying a new suede soft green colored D&G "fake" purse for $20.00 U.S. Not because of the D&G on it...I just liked it and the handbags are really beautifully made... Oh well... Past the rows and rows of watches and pearls (I did buy a few pearl trinkets for a few dollars) and out of there with ex-Marine buying two Beijing Olympic hats for 50 cents each outside Yashow.
Visiting My Favorite Beijing, China Panjiayuan "Dirt" Market
A fast 12-1/2 hour flight and we landed at Beijing's Capital Airport. The last time we flew through and into Beijing, the airport grounds were a sea of cranes, otherwise known as "crane city." The cranes had metamorphosed into the world's largest airport terminal completed in time for the 8/8/08 Olympics. You would not believe how long it took from landing to arrive at the gate. The plane taxied...and taxied...and taxied for at least 45 minutes. The imposing dragon-shaped building will handle 76 million passengers a year. Off the plane, through the incredibly gorgeous new building, customs and out to the taxi queue in no time at all.
By the Olympics, a new train line is also supposed be completed into downtown Beijing. That will be a lifesaver. Traffic is wall-to-wall gridlock from Capital Airport into downtown and our cabdriver got lost looking for the Novotel. He spoke no English, and our six-word Chinese vocabulary just didn't cut it. What to do? Cell phone...what else. There are almost 500 million cell phone subscribers in China! I pulled my hotel confirmation with phone number, pointed, he called for directions and...there you are. Or rather, there we were at the Novotel Xin Qiao Beijing. Show me to a bed please....
"stuff" arriving by bicycle for the Panjiayuan Market
The final itinerary consisted of 17 day, beginning in Beijing, ending in Shanghai. We planned on spending two nights in Beijing at the beginning and two nights in Shanghai at the end before flying home. And then, you always have to add the 2 days spent actually getting to China and one day returning home! The tour itself would focus on three provinces: Shanxi, Henan and Zhejiang.
Air? United non-stop to Beijing and then fly directly home to Chicago from Shanghai. We'd utilize trains (day and overnight) and ground transportation for the intra-China sections with the exception of one domestic flight from Zhengzhou to Hangzhou.
Hotels? We needed two nights in Beijing and two nights in Shanghai. Selected the Novotel Xin Qiao Beijing, a 4-star hotel near Tiananmen Square and the Ruijin Hotel & Guesthouse to stay in Shanghai. (Read about China costs below.)
Sometimes it appears that all we do is travel to and from China. People ask, "Why are you going to China again?" Because....China is huge and impossible to see in a dozen trips. Another e-mail (fareast@shfareast.com) to Cindy (Shi Ming), at Shanghai Far East Expeditions. What area should we explore now?
It didn't take long for Cindy to reply with a whole smorgasbord of suggestions and questions. Time of year? Did we want to trek? How many days? What is our budget? Answers -- April to May...no trekking...14+ days...as little as possible. That last feat is becoming harder and harder with the Beijing 2008 Olympics and China's rapidly increasing popularity for travel.
Time for the train routine. Victoria Plaza Hotel concierge wrote down the name of the Hangzhou train station and instructions for the taxi driver to drop us off on the 2nd level in Chinese. That level is where the soft-seat bullet train waiting room is. On another piece of paper (also in Chinese), the name of our Shanghai hotel, address and telephone number.
HINT: Try to always do this so when your taxi driver gets lost...and he will get lost...he can use his cell phone to call for directions. We watched CCTV-9 most of the time in China, usually the only station in English. One interesting show featured Beijing taxi drivers who are attending compulsory "Taxi English" school for two-hours a day in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
Finishing Up Shanghai: The Four Seasons, Bund and Yu Gardens
One last day in Shanghai and we headed out very early to visit "The Bund," Yu Gardens and stop by the Four Seasons to visit Lisa Low, Director of Public Relations. The United Airlines Shanghai to Chicago flight didn't leave until 4:00 pm today which gave enough time to accomplish everything...we hoped.
The Four Seasons was within walking distance and Lisa told us about a new area, Taikang Road, filled with restaurants, boutiques and art galleries. I mentioned before that there is always a new area to explore. Thanks, Lisa, and we hope to reconnect on the next trip to Shanghai and discover even more with Lisa's help. If you appreciate the finest in luxury and service, stay at The Four Seasons. And if you can't afford a luxury hotel, splurge just once and still book yourself into The Four Seasons. An island of tranquility and service. FYI: We pay our own way and all my reviews are completely unbiased. No comps for this reviewer!
Dongtai Lu and Xintiandi/Xin Tian Di Tourist Information, Shanghai, China
I have so many favorite places in Shanghai to visit every time and then Shanghai razes another city block, erects giant skyscrapers and I can no longer find the old favorites. NOTE: Almost every guidebook, map or local information you may read is outdated as soon as it is printed! Entire city blocks change overnight. China has the manpower to bring 3,000 construction workers in from the country, build temporary housing for them, and then erect a new giant skyscraper within 4-6 months. All the information below is from a local:
- China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy in 10 years. (No kidding...as if a deaf, dumb, blind person couldn't figure that out.)
- A fifth of China's exports pass through Shanghai.
- China produces and consumes one-third of the world's steel. Every city visited this trip, including the countryside appears to be just one huge crane city.
The Gay Man's "Murse" (A Purse) and Other China Favorites
The absolute latest in China's gay community is called a "murse." Usually, a huge Coach purse with fits definite requirements. It has to be large, the bigger the better- shiny and decorated and definitely a brand name. It's an epidemic in the Shanghai community and right now, if you carry a murse, you're shouting out... "I'm gay"!... But what's going to happen when this catches on with metrosexuals (you know it will) and every man carries a murse? I'm confident the forward thinking gay fashionistas of Shanghai will come up with something else.
There are also a few gay places for partying that had the greatest descriptions. Frangipani serves Fruit in a Suit, and the Red Station had a girls night out geared toward non-breeders of the female variety. What a way with words...
In Shanghai, China For A Third Visit - Heaven...I'm In Heaven...
Landed in Shanghai, took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. IMPORTANT: Don't listen to touts who offer taxi service! Exit the airport door showing "taxis," get in line and wait your turn. It should run about $21 for a 45-minute trip. There are also buses that take you to downtown Shanghai for less and the wonderful Maglev train that only takes 8 minutes. Unfortunately, it didn't stop anywhere near our hotel. You'd have to take a taxi from the end point.
My idea of heaven is ending a semi-difficult trip (or not) in a deluxe 5***** hotel and you can't ask for a hotel more wonderful than Four Seasons...the ultimate in luxury and service. What a treat to be in a hotel with people waiting to welcome us in English, toilets that flush (goodbye squat and public toilets), steaming hot water, a cushy bed with fluffy pillows, fruit in the room, and body lotion. Yes...I'm shallow... Nirvana for me and ex-Marine's idea of heaven is CNN, ESPN (to see what the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox were doing) and newspapers in English.
What an interesting trip. We discovered the Eastern Tibetan Plateau wasn't as untraveled as you may be led to believe. Chinese Nationals are the primary tourists right now but every year more Westerners discover this huge area with its variety of sights. It's changing rapidly - like the rest of the world - get there now! Some more facts for you:
- The roads were uniformly excellent.
- The nicer the hotel, the worse the food. Stick to the little "hole in the wall" eateries for really great food.
- The Chinese eat communally using their chopsticks to eat out of the same serving bowl. Hard to get used to watching chopsticks go in someone else's mouth and then used to pick out another helping from the same dish, but we never got sick.
A Red Panda resembles a raccoon! Both the Giant Panda and Red Pandas share characteristics of both bears and raccoons but are only distantly related. Other Red Panda facts?
- The Red Panda is native to Nepal's Himalayas, Southern China, Southern Tibet, Bhutan and also found sparsely in a few other countries. It too is classified as "endangered" with an estimated population of less than 2,500. Hunted for its fur and bushy tail (think "coonskin cap") in China, their fur is often used in local cultural ceremonies and weddings.
- They like elevations of 1,800-4,800m/5,900-15,700' (they live high), forests with rhododendrons and bamboo, and nest in rock dens and old hollow trees.
- Red Pandas spend the day sleeping on high branches of trees and spend most of their lives, living predominantly in trees. They also have territories and are loners.
The Giant Panda Breeding Institute In Chengdu, China
What would a trip to the Chengdu area be without a visit to the Giant Panda Breeding Institute to see those adorable Pandas? Suggestion: Go early in the morning because after snarfing down piles of bamboo, the Pandas go into a food-coma (just like us) and sleep for hours.
The Giant Panda Breeding Institute doesn't open until 9:00 a.m. and off we went. It took over an hour to get through all the traffic. People make left turns through red lights, drive through red lights, go into opposing traffic to get around each other...and then there are bicycles and scooters going in all directions. Nervewracking. At first I thought, swell...this is just going to be like going to a zoo...then we'll see two Pandas and leave... How very wrong could one person be. One of the most fantastic experiences of our lives. The Institute's grounds are huge and spread over many acres. Left the car in the parking lot (thankfully, without too many tour buses yet) and started walking into the grounds, heading directly for the Panda enclosures.
It is a omplete surprise that we haven't seen any dead bodies, animals or auto accidents anywhere on this trip. The highways (with the exception of tollways around Xining) are two-lanes filled with cars, trucks, people walking on the road, sheep and yaks crossing at will, little tractors. Going through unlit tunnels with little tractors ahead of you in the darkness was very scary. Oh...and I forgot to add...everyone passes on curves...mountains or not. Today would be the last long drive to Chengdu. No more Tibetan Autonomous zones...no more yaks...each small town and city would be primarily Chinese.
Our driver was a rabid smoker and packs of Chinese cigarettes run anywhere from 3-20 yuan...most commonly 10 yuan a pack. There was plenty of time for him to smoke with all the road delays. We sat at one place for close to an hour while the road builders flagged one row of traffic at a time through this three-block area. I watched the cabbage trucks heading to market with pounds of road dirt on each cabbage...
It would be two hours by road before reaching Mu Ni Gou, located in Song Pan County. Songpan is east of the vast Aba Autonomous Prefecture which sprawls over the Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai borders. This area is the domain of the Goloks (a nomadic group of herders) and a Bonpa stronghold. Both tribes you don't want to mess with.
Songpan, was founded as a garrison town guarding the neck of a valley. Songpan is one of Sichuan's few surviving walled towns and is surrounded on three sides by high stone walls, most of them reconstructed. Their shops (unimpressive) still cater to the occasional Tibetan and and local Qiang. The only impressive sight we saw in Songpan was an old bridge. Glad our itinerary didn't call for an overnight there. (Thank you, Cindy.)
The Huanglong Reserve covers over a 1,000 square km/600 miles of rough terrain at an average altitude of 3,000m/9,800'. This valley was carved out by a glacier and the limestone-rich waters flowing down the valley have left yellow calcified deposits between hundreds of blue ponds. The entire circuit, on either wooden boardwalks that have to be slippery as hell when it rains and stone paths, is approximately 8k/4+ miles through the deciduous forest, pine forests and rhododendrons. By now, I had forgotten all about the hissy fit on the way to this Reserve. It was definitely worth every long mile and entirely different from Jiuzhaigou. Go and visit!
We walked down from the Monastery on the opposite side of the circuit and gained new perspectives of the 5-Colored Dragon Head pool, Golden Flying Waterfall, 1k long calcified slope "Golden Sand on Earth" ...View image...There were toilets all along the trail and posts offering free oxygen. If we could have read "free oxygen in Chinese", it would have been a sure indication that this was some serious altitude just to go out and walk in. And...duh...seeing a porter struggling up carrying everything Nepal-style would have told anyone with a brain that this was high altitude...
porter carrying cartons on his back up the mountain
From Jiuzhaigou to Huanglong Scenic Reserve in China
It was a very long drive, over 2-1/2 hours from Jiuzhaigou to Huanglong, up and over mountains. Huanglong is a string of lakes and small ponds in a calcified valley with thick alpine forests. Already, I was not happy. The thought of driving this distance just to see another park was leaving me cold and I was busy muttering in the back seat to ex-Marine..."Can you believe we have to drive all this way...and then turn around and drive the same road back through the mountains...yadda...yadda..." At long last there, Huanglong seemed less busy than Jiuzhougou. Probably because there were very few tour buses in the parking lot at this early hour.
Again, there was a big visitor's center at the entrance of Huanglong again in the Minshan range, another UNESCO site...View image... The highest peak Xuebaoding would have been visible on a clear day but today was cool and overcast. Wang-Lee decided to take us in to the park today, and left Yonten in the parking lot with the car. There were no buses into Huanglong - you had to walk in...and up...or so we thought. Fortunately, ex-Marine and I had absolutely no inkling of the altitude here.
In Jiuzhaigou Scenic Reserve: Middle To The Top Section, China
Jiuzhaigou is in the southern part of the Minshan Mountains at an elevation of 2,000-4,300m/6,500-14,000' and is one of the branch gullies at the source of the Jiulingjiang River in the Yangtze River system. This big "Y" shaped valley consists of Nuorilang with the two branches of Rize and Zechawa. There are over 114 lakes and 17 waterfalls...impossible to see everything. Jiuzhaigou Scenic Reserve was designated a UNESCO Man and Biosphere area in 1997. The midpoint of today's gully was called Nuorilang and Fangcao Lake (Primeval Forest) was an additional 18k/10 miles up.
Jumped on the next bus to top (a 20-minute ride) to admire the views from there. Most of the tourists in the park were also paying 30 Yuan to take photos dressed in Tibetan costumes....View image...they were so pretty that I was tempted to dress up in one myself...but we were running short of time and there was still much to see in Jiuzhaigou...
In Jiuzhaigou Scenic Reserve: Bottom To The Middle Section, China
Approximately 1,000,000 people visit annually and there were over 15,000 today. "Jewz" means "9 Stockades Gully." It is 14k/8+ miles from park gate to center of reserve, then 15k/9.3 miles to the Primeval Forest at the top from the center. Bus stops all along the route and the routes are divided from bottom to middle and middle to top. It took 20 minutes by bus just to get from the middle to top. There is also a guesthouse at the halfway point to spend the night if you want.
Huge visiters center with everything in Chinese and English. A map cost about 50 cents and was an extremely worthwhile investment....View image...and the visitors center had information flashing by, also in Chinese and English...View image...
Ruo Er Gai Grassland and Jiu Zhai Gou (Jiuzhaigou) in China
Today's destination was Jiu Zhai Gou (Jiuzhaigou) Scenic Reserve for some exploration. Jiuzhaigou is in a valley with lakes and some waterfalls, "discovered" by tourists in the 1970's and is now being groomed by the Chinese Government for a huge influx of visitors (primarily Han Chinese).
Ruo Er Gai was an interesting little town. even if we did nearly freeze to death in our hotel. And breakfast was a Chinese breakfast only, without eggs or bread BUT there was some sort of sponge cake and we had our instant coffee. No worries... Upon arrival yesterday, we walked around town - that took about five minutes - but there were some great looking pedi-cabs, one food street selling lots of candy, nuts and other foods - all sitting out in the very hot high-altitude sun...View image... - and peas drying on the sidewalks...
A Day With The Nomads: Ruo Er Gai Grasslands, China
Driving along, Yonten taught us another Tibetan word - DEE MOUCHEE - goodby in Tibetan. It wasn't long before Wang-Lee pulled off the road, drove a short distance across green pastures and stopped before a black tent, Yonten's family summer tent. His mother, sister-in-law and nephew were standing outside waiting to greet us while the family's yaks roamed around and the family dog (a mean one, tied up) growled and barked at us. (Yonten said even he was afraid of that dog.) ...View image...
The black tent made out of yak fur absorbs the sun during the day and keeps the family warm at night. The tent was quite spacious with a spot for everything including a pile of dried yak dung (three-days worth) used as fuel for cooking. They even had a small solar generator. Nomads move their flocks four times n the summer to new pastures, gradually heading back to their winter home by the mountains. It takes several yaks to haul everything each time they move. They also had a little white tent in the middle of the yak corral for someone to sleep in at night to keep away predators.
Langmusi Sky Burials and Ruo Er Gai Grasslands in China
Today, if we are lucky, we'll get to witness a Tibertan Sky Burial. When a Tibetan dies, the body is kept in the house for three days, and then brought to the monastery where a monk says prayers over the corpse. After that, the corpse is immediately transported up the mountain and left for the vultures and other birds of prey to dispose of it. Before the birds even get there, a monk splits the corpse into pieces with his knife to make it easier for the vultures to carry off the body chunks. Neither one of us were quite sure whether this was really something to look forward to or not...
Up very early in the morning to hike up the mountain to the Terrace for Celestial Burial (sky burials), the most holy place in the area. The hiking trail was easy...the altitude was not. We asked Yonten while burtials are handled in this fashion. His explanation, during Tibetan life, they eat many animals and birds. This method of disposal gives something back to the animals and the souls of the dead are brought to heaven.
We continued on our walk to visit Sezhi Monastery, at the intersection of Gansu Province and Sichuan Province. This little village of Langmusi has two large Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, each with about 600 monks. This is an Amdo Tibetan nomad region and the people are devoutly Buddhist. The first thing we saw were people sitting in front of the very attractive Sezhi Monastery, trying to capture the sights in paint...View image...first one, than another person working on their artwork...View image... And, the next day, we happened to see an entire Chinese art class, palettes and paints in hand, heading for the same spot.
We'd visit the other monastery, Geerdeng Monastery, in Gansu Province tomorrow on the way up to a Tibetan Sky Burial. (More about Tibetan Sky Burials later...) Locals simply refer to them as the Sichuan Monastery and Gansu Monastery.
Langmusi was another beautiful village, populated by Hui, Goloks and Tibetans, surrounded by mountains and lamaseries. There is really good hill walking around here as well as horse-rides into the country. Quite a few Chinese tourists like to rent horses, ride to a nomad village where they spend a night in a tent, and ride back the next day. Langmusi is a very relaxing, Tibetan area and many travelers organize treks or just veg out for a few days.
We arrived in Langmusi just around lunch time, dropped the suitcases at the hotel, walked down the street and upstairs to a restaurant Wang-Lee knew. The food wasn't very good. Wang=Lee said this restaurant was excellent the last time he drove through Langmusi, but this time, a big Julia Child thumbs down . We all should have known this place wasn't for us when we saw the street sign, advertising intestines for lunch...
Xiahe (Labrang), Through Hezuo, On The Way To Langmusi, China
Now going south of Gansu Province to Hezuo ("WHO-ZOO") to visit Mila Riba Palace, on a sunny, nice day. Built in 1777, this 14-storey temple was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt in 1988. Quite elaborate with great views of the grasslands surrounding Hezuo. There are over 1,700 statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva and guardians of Buddhism. We just admired from the outside.
Hezuo is a trading post for Tibetan nomads. The road leading to Sichuan from Gansu Province was a tough journey with lots of stopovers in remote towns. A new Tibetan word for us "KAY-OH-MARI"...."no problem" in Tibetan. Yonten is responsible for this new word. He attends university in Lanzhou trying to improve his Chinese and English. In today's China, a person must be fluent in Chinese if they want to get ahead and Yonten has no intention of returning to the nomadic life of his family, herding yaks and sheep for the rest of his life. The Lanzhou University has 40,000 studens and four months equals one term.
another monastery tucked at the foot of the mountains
Xia He/Xiahe/Labrang County and Monastery in Gansu Province, China
We had visited Gansu province during the Silk Road trip but were heading into an entirely different area. Xiahe (pronounced shak huh - the Chinese world for "Labrang") is the most important Tibetan monastery town outside of Tibet. (I'm going to use Xiahe throughout this article.) Xiahe is a tiny rural town around 3,000m/9,800' in the hills of southern Gansu, on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. The town basically runs along one small street starting from the bus station, leading through Labrang Monastery in the middle, and ending in the old Tibetan section of town.
Labrang Monastery is one of the six major centers of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat Sect). Four are in Tibet and we had already visited the fifth, Kumbum (Taer Si) in Qinghai Province. This temple, with its 600+ year history, is famous for ancient cultural relics and architecture. The Yellow Hat Sect is considerably wealthier than their brother monks of the Red Hat Sect (Hongjiao Si - Temple of the Red Hat Sect - also in Xiahe), and the Yellow Hat people certainly never looked undernourished... Speaking of undernourished...it was time for lunch...and we were getting pretty darn good with chopsticks...
This was the big Day...the reason we were visiting Tongren in Qinghai Province at this particular time. The Shen Wu Assembly for Worship, in only held once a year..TODAY. This Assembly, called "Zhou Pu Le Rou" in Tibetan language, is a traditional old Ritual Festival incorporating religion, sacrifice and entertainment. Some of the numerous ceremonies and activities include: ritual dances, the beating of holy drums, singing of folk songs and the shaman going into trance all hoping to bring good luck for future offerings.
It is more correctly called the Tongren Shaman's Festival dating back to pre-Buddhist influence. After today, the festival would continue in many of the small villages around Tongren presided over by each village's local shaman. There would also be ritual piercing of cheeks of all the young men in the village, the men dancing a drum dance with pierced backs, and a shaman in a trance, climbing the dragon pole, then cutting his forehead with a knife. Quite wild and very different from any festival we've ever experienced. Don't know about the piercing and cutting bits, and just hoped we had the stomach for it.
- Approximately 31% of the Chinese smoke (could be much higher). Very difficult to get used to constantly being surrounded by a cloud of second-hand smoke. We've probably inhaled a year's worth of smoke in just a few days. If you are a smoker, China will be nirvana and you'll be happier than a hog sitting in a puddle of ...you know what....just puff away to your heart's content...
- Spitting on the sidewalks has diminished since prior visits to China. Do you think SARS or Bird Flu had something to do with it?
- You can buy some great looking sunglasses for $1.
- The Tibetans love to have their pictures taken and a crowd always materializes to see the image on my digital camera and camcorder. They are also as interested in us as we are in them.
Our hotel (the China Telecom) was packed with both Chinese National tourists and westerners arriving for the festival tomorrow including one group that just came off trek. Their mules were munching away behind the hotel waiting to be carted off to wherever mules go. We'll have to walk about 15 minutes from the center of Tongren to the monastery uphill. It should start at 10:00 am, and then again, maybe not.
The China Telecom Hotel had its own bowling alley but didn't serve breakfast or any other meals which certainly wasn't a problem. Each morning we walked less than 100 feet to a little hole in the wall restaurant with, perhaps, six tiny tables seating 4 persons at each table. If an entire table wasn't vacant, we just ate with strangers...it wasn't like they took "reservations." This restaurant was operated by Chinese Muslims, the Hui people, a completely family-run affair. Little boy poured tea and cleaned off tables while another family member made the noodles and a third took orders and delivered the food to the table. Breakfast was either a huge bowl of meat/vegetable/noodle soup - what Wang-Lee and Yonten ate or, hard-boiled eggs and flatbread - our breakfast - supplemented with a jar of Nescafe coffee.
In Tongren (Tong Ren) Known As The "Homeland of Thangkas", China
Finally in Tongren, Qinghai Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Region, the focal point of this trip, to attend the Tongren festival supposed to start today with two-days of festivities. BUT...the Head Lama has decided that today is not an auspicious day and the festival won't start until tomorrow. Ah...memories of our Ladakh trip when we planned three weeks around a huge festival, arrived and found out that the festival had taken place weeks earlier when that Lama changed it to a more auspicious time! What could we do but hope that it actually would begin tomorrow...
In the meantime, there were other sights to see. Tongren (pop. 16,000) had two other monasteries not far away. Upper Wutun Xia and Lower Wutun. This area is also known for its Tangkas/Thangkas, a unique form of painting in Tibet. It was off to the monastery to learn a litttle about Thangkas. It is usually a painted or embroidered Buddhist banner hung in a monastery or family altar and carried in ceremonial processions. In Tibetan, the word 'than' means flat and the suffix 'ka' stands for painting. A Thangka can be rolled up when not required for display.
Originally, Thangka painting became popular among traveling monks because the scrolls could be easily rolled and transported from monasteries.
Ping An and Tongren (Tong Ren) in Qinghai Province, China
It was time for the serious road trip to begin. It would be a three hour drive before arriving in Tongren, the hometown of the Tibetan Re Gona Culture and also a center for art. On the way, we passed through Ping An County and attempted to visit Hong Ya Gou (Red Cliff Village) to visit the 14th Dalai Lama's Former Residence. Even though the 14th Dalai Lama's government in exile is in India, he still has a few "Scotch Cousins" living in the village. It was not to be. The Chinese were busy working on a new road that made it too difficult to get there. No problem.
Onward... It was surprising to see so many Chinese Muslims in Qinghai Province. I couldn't get any definitive answer where they originally migrated from...Pakistan? Afghanistan? One of the Stans? But there were approximately 12,000 Chinese Muslims in this province.
The Tu Ethnic Minority People and More Xining, China
Into the Toyota for a short drive to the Tu Village in Hu Zhu. The Tu Ethnic Nationality is in an autonomous region of Qinghai. The Tu predate the Tibetans and about 30,000 people live in this area. The Tu put on performances of singing, dancing, martial arts. These Tu people manage to make a very nice living for themselves serving lunch, dressing in their colorful, traditional outfits and performing. A typical Tu sports competition is called "Lun Zi Qui" and they fence with swords, etc.
Pulled up to this compound, welcomed with singing Tu women, offered small bowls of their local hooch made from highland barley and shown to our invidual room for lunch and local Tu delicacies. Most Chinese restaurants have little rooms for your group to eat in along with a big main area.
The Beishan Si (North Mountain Temple) Taoist Pagoda was located north of the Huangshui River, on the outskirts of Xining. Wang-Lee thought we might enjoy a visit before returning to the hotel. This Taoist temple is over 1,700 years old and there were hundreds of steps that led along a series of walkways and bridges connecting caves decorated with Taoist designs.
Approaching the location in the car, you could see the top level of caves from a distance and we were looking forward to a nice walk to the top. Unfortunately, the entire top levels were closed for repairs and only the bottom was open to visit. A very pleasant, serene place with information in both Chinese and English. One sign referred to it as the "Earth-tower observatory platform" which I found confusing.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3fc9faf7-5e02-405c-95e2-131af43fee62)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=1945afed-e604-4824-9d1e-9212ebc09c40)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8d55b29c-e761-48ed-b0a1-ae90ddf6a606)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=823db201-bd3d-4bb5-a330-96e23cae881b)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=5786af3c-e5b5-4b86-bcbe-6387a3d2e81a)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=525ae813-bff4-4abe-81be-c6058007d62a)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=83e2c1a2-5cc8-40ba-a29b-c5116a891517)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3c925b0b-e97e-4530-81ff-946e70773417)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=2c461869-20e8-4475-85d6-0bdc42ebc5c2)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=6c8be606-16ec-4514-bfa3-a0b250c279b9)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=89898d48-8dc3-4d60-885b-f35077463942)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=aec14347-000c-415e-8de1-7b4779d861e9)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ced4fc73-627c-4357-ae58-b9553c4fabe7)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f69e599d-8d13-4b11-8eb4-08819c67a79e)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=65ce1f55-1d11-4cf0-8e2f-c1401f6e57fe)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8ccdb608-3d5f-4f00-a664-d80a9acff7e7)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8dd77a97-af0e-4b01-804f-b3dae8d396a3)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f33fdf78-5761-4556-b858-faf0b49f3683)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=b0809d02-dc4c-414f-9dbf-6ca4f5270e7d)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=315be597-f100-419d-9ca1-183ac5d38002)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=47a1fbcb-6be3-484d-bb31-86d5c68cb48c)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8a9ff3db-8ac6-4847-b010-274966a355c7)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=caf744f3-c43e-475a-b39f-148a3db5da10)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e0076185-851f-40eb-b564-acaa8b279726)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8bf1f233-f1cc-44d6-88fa-3f3c196397af)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e5ac959f-d559-4817-9046-f6acd74e2cea)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e67a1f31-101b-4e0d-a0c1-4e3ddc88a562)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=044cead8-3c11-49ba-850f-197e5156f248)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3abf3b5f-1853-4acd-873a-f6323d5db2c1)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e78f400b-e90e-4997-b64e-6285c0a7b8f0)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=0d1ce551-8fed-40c3-8c55-ff092f4caa56)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=8f7f081c-08ee-4529-ba4d-db7c3dd88abd)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=21c37b09-abba-4da2-b1d9-639677d9361f)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e0f615ed-ae2a-4efe-a3c9-de51006a45df)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=cce64c0e-dcc4-4aa9-b05a-63658264aa54)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=fd14dc5d-16dc-42a0-a9d9-777ec60a7ac0)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=4f2aa4d3-3613-4d33-b5fc-1dc8044fa503)
