After resting away the day in Dunhuang we arrived at the train station early to try and change my hard seat into a hard sleeper. Ticket office said no, so we waited until we could board. I slipped my ticket under Sara's and some paper so I could get into Sara's compartment and lock our bags up, then off to the hard seat I went. As soon as I got there, it was very easy to change my ticket and was back in the car behind Sara's before the train even left the station. My compartment had the train staff and like 6 other people total, Sara's was full. The baby below me cried whenever the train stopped or started going agian, so I would get an hour or so of sleep before being awoken. Sara claims she didn't sleep at all, and judging from the bags under her eyes in the morning I almost believe her. Her compartment was filled with 5 men who snored non-stop at non-regular intervals. She was not a happy camper when we arrived at the Turpan station at 8:30 am. We then walked through the tour guides holding their signs to be greeted by two taxi drivers wanting to take us to the city (55km away). The price started high 50 Yuan per person, and they bickered between themselves until we agreed to pay 10 Yuan per person. Then we got to the taxi, just a normal car. We put our bags in the back and got in the car. For the 30 drive we both prepared for the fight to get our bags and not pay more than 20 Yuan. I thought about getting us dropped off at the police station, but couldn't find one on the map, we both were tense with anticipation. The driver suggested taking us to the Turpan Hotel, one which was expensive but on our map, so we agreed. We arrived and sprung into action, out of the cab we leap and to the truck. The driver surprisingly was right behind us, and without question opened the truck without even asking for money. We were so relieved I almost kissed him and went to the reception. The rooms were as we expected too expensive, but agreed to be taken to a new hotel by the driver. The new hotel was in our price range, (should've barginned for cheaper, but Sara's look of "If we go to another hotel before I go pee and have a nap" would have killed small dogs and sent kids crying to their parents.
We had a nap then went to a silk road staple John's Information Cafe for brunch of yogurt and fruit, toast and jam, fried rice, french fries, water and sprite. On the way we ran into a British guy and a Japanese girl who we had meet in Dunhaung and were on the same train as us. They suggested maybe doing some sort of tour together tomorrow. They were smart, they purchased their train tickets to Kashgar at the train station, we had to pay a commission to get someone and drive back to the train station and buy tickets for us. Can you have a rookie mistake 1 month into a trip? Anyways after enjoying our brunch under the grape vines we walked back to our hotel, we had just enough energy to make it there with the heat. Today it was 35'C a full 15'C cooler than it can get here and it is a very dry heat, you're mouth drys instantly. You drink water and then blam your mouth is dry. After dinner we may take a donkey ride or walk the bazzar or just relax in the air conditioned room. Tomorrow we have a full day of walking in mountians, seeing old silk road sites, and underground irrigation system.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
OW ARE ARSES HURT!!!
Dunes, lots and lots of Dunes
I liked petting Tysons Camel.. Tyson called him "smokin Sam", I named my Camel Igor.
If you look closely you can see the wind rip off the dune.
Good Evening,
Today we slept in which was nice. Got up and ate some breaky (toast for me, rice for Tyson). After eating we went to see if we could get our train tickets to Turpan. We found out that they don't know if the train is going to go tomorrow because of the winds, they don't want the train to go if sand is going to blow onto the track. It is quite windy now, and its super annyoing!!! More on that later. So tomorrow morning we will find out if we take the night train tomorrow night, or we try again for the next night.
We decided to rent some bikes and go for a bike ride into the country side. At first it wasn't so bad, until our butts began to hurt from the bumpy roads, and the stiff hard seats. We ended up riding for about 3 hours, and were utterly exhausted once we came out of the heat and sat down and drank a cold sprite and had some lunch. It probably wasn't the best thing to go for such a long ride seeing as we were going to the sand dunes and to ride camels. I am not even exagerating when I say are butts hurt.. i think they are bruised.
The camel ride was neat, except for my arse hurting, and the fact that the motion of riding the camel kind of made me feel nasueated. So back onto the wind thing. It was extremly windy going to the sand dunes this evening. The sand dunes themselves were amazing, and very large, however the wind and sand in your face made it hard to enjoy it as much. We went sledding down the sand dune and it was not fun at all due to the fact that you pretty much ate sand all the way down, and got sand in places you don't want to know. It was a little disappointing, running down the sand dunes was much more fun. The sunset wasn't anything spectacular due to the clouds in the way.
We are very exhausted now, and tomorrow we will have a relaxing day, before maybe heading onto the night train to Turpan.
Sara and Tyson
Today we slept in which was nice. Got up and ate some breaky (toast for me, rice for Tyson). After eating we went to see if we could get our train tickets to Turpan. We found out that they don't know if the train is going to go tomorrow because of the winds, they don't want the train to go if sand is going to blow onto the track. It is quite windy now, and its super annyoing!!! More on that later. So tomorrow morning we will find out if we take the night train tomorrow night, or we try again for the next night.
We decided to rent some bikes and go for a bike ride into the country side. At first it wasn't so bad, until our butts began to hurt from the bumpy roads, and the stiff hard seats. We ended up riding for about 3 hours, and were utterly exhausted once we came out of the heat and sat down and drank a cold sprite and had some lunch. It probably wasn't the best thing to go for such a long ride seeing as we were going to the sand dunes and to ride camels. I am not even exagerating when I say are butts hurt.. i think they are bruised.
The camel ride was neat, except for my arse hurting, and the fact that the motion of riding the camel kind of made me feel nasueated. So back onto the wind thing. It was extremly windy going to the sand dunes this evening. The sand dunes themselves were amazing, and very large, however the wind and sand in your face made it hard to enjoy it as much. We went sledding down the sand dune and it was not fun at all due to the fact that you pretty much ate sand all the way down, and got sand in places you don't want to know. It was a little disappointing, running down the sand dunes was much more fun. The sunset wasn't anything spectacular due to the clouds in the way.
We are very exhausted now, and tomorrow we will have a relaxing day, before maybe heading onto the night train to Turpan.
Sara and Tyson
Monday, May 28, 2007
First Taste of Desert
How old is this lonely tree?
You want me to walk across this to sell your used silk underwear?
Middle of the desert eh?
Sara made a friend today
Remains of the city beside the river
The Great Wall Western Edge
Today we left at 8am on a tour of some silk road sites and the edge of Han control. The area about 80 kilometers west of Dunhuang was the end of Han controlled China until this century. This was also where the different overland silk road routes split, one going south and the other north before meeting again in Kashgar. While an oversimplification the point is the same. We started the day at Yumen pass where beside a small river and on the edge of the desert was a small Han fort. We almost had climbed to the top through a small passageway when some tour guide/site protector started yelling at us. We relucantly turned around and walked around the inside and outside. The construction was made from some bricks covered with straw and mud. After that we drove to some of the last remaining/furthest west sections of the Great Wall. Unlike the wall near Beijing made from stone this section was made by layering levels of mud and straw. It looked like it would have been 10 feet tall when it was active. By this time the sun was getting high in the sky but a stiff breeze stopped us from truely feeling it's effect. Next stop was Hechery City, a city (maybe a place for troop storage) along the same river. We looked for Aladin's lamp with no success. The river still flows and is quite a strange contrast to the bleak desert environment all around it. You could almost see the buildings surrounded by tents and camels grazing near the river getting ready to start the long journey across the desert. Down by the river both Sara and myself were swarmed by bugs that packed quite the bite, however running away was not an option as all the vegetation contains some rather sharp thorns.
Next stop was Yang Pass, a lookout and government outpost located on the top of some hills that were 15 kilometers from the river and beside a lake and river oasis of their own. The place had been rebuilt to it's formed glory. It is going to be one of the next major tourist stops in the region. A friendly tour guide (just practicing her english) meet us just inside the gate and lead us through two museums. Then to the government house which had about 8 chinese dressed in period costumes. Through this was the gate to China, which you even in the Han days needed the proper paperwork to get through. After the gate, to get to the only original structure, the watchtower you could take a bus (10 Yuan) or a camel (40 yuan). Since we're riding camels tomorrow we decided on the bus. The watchtower was used much like the watch towers in the Lord of the Ring - Return of the King. If someone saw danger they would light a fire on one watch tower which would be relayed back to the army and government headquarters. The view from up there was amazing. Beside the oasis' the desert stretched out in all directions. If someone told me if I walked out into it with silk on the other side would be people willing to buy it, for profit, I'm not sure I would go. It looked formitable and the heat was amazing. We still didn't feel the sweat due to the wind, but we were already drained, and in a brake in the breeze could feel the oven affect.
After getting lead through the milk run (set of gift shop rooms one after the other selling all sorts of stuff) we left for the last stop on our adventure. The 1000 Buddha caves. We drive through the desert to this little patch of green, which turns out to be 80 foot high trees, 50 feet down in a little valley. This caves were very similar to the caves at Mogao, same period just hardly visited. These caves were smaller and the statues were mostly missing a arm or a head or something. However we got better looks at the artwork as we could get closer, and didn't feel as rushed as we did at Mogao. Not to mention the greatly reduced price. I wouldn't say not to go to Mogao and do these caves instead, it is just these caves were a good addition to see as well as the Mogao caves.
We returned to the hotel at 5:30 exhausted and napped till 7, when we enjoyed a dinner of Chinese style fried potatoes, fried rice with vegetables, and stirfried tomatos and califlower. Tomorrow we work on getting a train ticket to Turpan and go to the sand dunes and ride camels.
Tyson and Sara
Next stop was Yang Pass, a lookout and government outpost located on the top of some hills that were 15 kilometers from the river and beside a lake and river oasis of their own. The place had been rebuilt to it's formed glory. It is going to be one of the next major tourist stops in the region. A friendly tour guide (just practicing her english) meet us just inside the gate and lead us through two museums. Then to the government house which had about 8 chinese dressed in period costumes. Through this was the gate to China, which you even in the Han days needed the proper paperwork to get through. After the gate, to get to the only original structure, the watchtower you could take a bus (10 Yuan) or a camel (40 yuan). Since we're riding camels tomorrow we decided on the bus. The watchtower was used much like the watch towers in the Lord of the Ring - Return of the King. If someone saw danger they would light a fire on one watch tower which would be relayed back to the army and government headquarters. The view from up there was amazing. Beside the oasis' the desert stretched out in all directions. If someone told me if I walked out into it with silk on the other side would be people willing to buy it, for profit, I'm not sure I would go. It looked formitable and the heat was amazing. We still didn't feel the sweat due to the wind, but we were already drained, and in a brake in the breeze could feel the oven affect.
After getting lead through the milk run (set of gift shop rooms one after the other selling all sorts of stuff) we left for the last stop on our adventure. The 1000 Buddha caves. We drive through the desert to this little patch of green, which turns out to be 80 foot high trees, 50 feet down in a little valley. This caves were very similar to the caves at Mogao, same period just hardly visited. These caves were smaller and the statues were mostly missing a arm or a head or something. However we got better looks at the artwork as we could get closer, and didn't feel as rushed as we did at Mogao. Not to mention the greatly reduced price. I wouldn't say not to go to Mogao and do these caves instead, it is just these caves were a good addition to see as well as the Mogao caves.
We returned to the hotel at 5:30 exhausted and napped till 7, when we enjoyed a dinner of Chinese style fried potatoes, fried rice with vegetables, and stirfried tomatos and califlower. Tomorrow we work on getting a train ticket to Turpan and go to the sand dunes and ride camels.
Tyson and Sara
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Maogo Caves
Sitting in the Buddhas hand? Maybe... behind me is the entrance to the 35 meter high sitting Buddha
Sand, Old Caves, and Vegetation????????
Hey look its Yao Ming.. just kidding.. its some china travelling teams playing on a dirt court.
Yesterday evening after dinner of noodles and french fries we went and watched some sort of Basketball tourney. They were city club teams of some sort playing. We watched two Chinese teams, however tonight a team from Kazahkstan is playing. They played outside on a clayish dirt court. There was probably a couple of hundred people watching. The highlight for it seemed everyone was the dunk competition at half-time. We couldn't figure out if the nets were regulation height or not. We tried in vain to get a better deal on our hotel room.
This morning we signed out of our hotel room to be told that we could have the room for what price we had asked for yesterday, however early it was, we had just spend 6.5 minutes packing and were not going to play the game. We said thanks but no thanks, please put our bags in storage and we'll be back in the afternoon to get them.
We got on a small bus (inbetween the size of a bus and a minivan) and headed out to Maogo Caves. There was a lady on the bus who spoke into a microphone for the entire ride out and back in Chinese. Every once and a while cameras would fly out, or people would stand to look out the other side, we just found it a little loud (do you need a microphone to talk to 6 people, especially in Chinese which happens to be a very loud language to begin with)
The prices to the caves had gone up since the guidebook was written, just like every other site in China, to 180 Yuan per person (roughly 30 bucks per person). Ridiculious as it was, we drained our wallets and in we went. At the caves you are unable to walk around by yourself as all caves are locked all the time, and your guide will let you into select caves as you go along. We meet up with a english speaking tour group on their second cave (we went into their first cave later). The caves are carved out of sandstone and are buddhist. The statues in the caves are cut from the rock then covered with straw and plaster before being painted. The caves date from around 300 AD to about 1300 AD. Each cave was comissioned by someone or a group of people who had themselves painted at the enterance to the cave. There are over 400 caves, we were allowed into less than 10. Some caves are in disrepair, others look very similar to ones we saw, others you can pay extra to see, while others still are in great shape but depict tantric or other scenes that are deemed not appropriate for viewing. 100 years ago some english and french explores came to the caves when only 1 man was working doing restoration and paid 130 pounds or 4 times what we paid to get in the gate for over 8000 manuscripts and silk paintings. Does that seem fair to you? The first cave contained a reclined buddha with gold painted feet and head. The walls and ceiling were covered with pictures of gods and stories of buddha. The most impressive room to me was the second which contained a 26 meter high sitting buddha, the second tallest buddha on site after the tour groups first room a 35.5 meter tall sitting buddha. I found the shorter buddha more impressive due to the artwork that surrounded him. We then proceeded through a number of other caves to see different eras of artwork and smaller depictions of buddha (just over lifesized). There was much talk about the destruction and looting by westerners over the last 100 years. Overall the caves were very impressive showing different styles and influences from all over eastern asia including india, nepal and even a bit of further westerner.
Today is hot, but I guess we should expect that being on the edge of the desert.
Tomorrow we are off to see the furthest west end of the Great wall and some other silk road historic sites.
This morning we signed out of our hotel room to be told that we could have the room for what price we had asked for yesterday, however early it was, we had just spend 6.5 minutes packing and were not going to play the game. We said thanks but no thanks, please put our bags in storage and we'll be back in the afternoon to get them.
We got on a small bus (inbetween the size of a bus and a minivan) and headed out to Maogo Caves. There was a lady on the bus who spoke into a microphone for the entire ride out and back in Chinese. Every once and a while cameras would fly out, or people would stand to look out the other side, we just found it a little loud (do you need a microphone to talk to 6 people, especially in Chinese which happens to be a very loud language to begin with)
The prices to the caves had gone up since the guidebook was written, just like every other site in China, to 180 Yuan per person (roughly 30 bucks per person). Ridiculious as it was, we drained our wallets and in we went. At the caves you are unable to walk around by yourself as all caves are locked all the time, and your guide will let you into select caves as you go along. We meet up with a english speaking tour group on their second cave (we went into their first cave later). The caves are carved out of sandstone and are buddhist. The statues in the caves are cut from the rock then covered with straw and plaster before being painted. The caves date from around 300 AD to about 1300 AD. Each cave was comissioned by someone or a group of people who had themselves painted at the enterance to the cave. There are over 400 caves, we were allowed into less than 10. Some caves are in disrepair, others look very similar to ones we saw, others you can pay extra to see, while others still are in great shape but depict tantric or other scenes that are deemed not appropriate for viewing. 100 years ago some english and french explores came to the caves when only 1 man was working doing restoration and paid 130 pounds or 4 times what we paid to get in the gate for over 8000 manuscripts and silk paintings. Does that seem fair to you? The first cave contained a reclined buddha with gold painted feet and head. The walls and ceiling were covered with pictures of gods and stories of buddha. The most impressive room to me was the second which contained a 26 meter high sitting buddha, the second tallest buddha on site after the tour groups first room a 35.5 meter tall sitting buddha. I found the shorter buddha more impressive due to the artwork that surrounded him. We then proceeded through a number of other caves to see different eras of artwork and smaller depictions of buddha (just over lifesized). There was much talk about the destruction and looting by westerners over the last 100 years. Overall the caves were very impressive showing different styles and influences from all over eastern asia including india, nepal and even a bit of further westerner.
Today is hot, but I guess we should expect that being on the edge of the desert.
Tomorrow we are off to see the furthest west end of the Great wall and some other silk road historic sites.
Tyson and Sara
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Sleeper Bus to Dunhuang
Well after successfully wasting yesterday we boarded our sleeper bus at 6pm from Golmud bus station. Sara and I had bought upper bunks, as they were more expensive we assumed there was a reason for that. Not sure we figured out why... The bus had 32 bunks, three across two deep slip by two isles. Sara had the window berth 22, I had the middle bunk 20. Golmud is an industry town, supported by Potash. The road leaving town looked indentical to the road through the tailing ponds around Syncrude, and weren't any smoother than the haul roads. People pay good money to go for a ride like that, we paid 95 Yuan per person for 11 hours. After taking an hour long dinner break at 10 pm, the lights went out, we strapped ourselves into the berths and tried to go to sleep. The guy below me smoked like a chimmey, but how could I complain even if it was a non-smoking bus, I don't speak Chinese and more importantly the driver would light up every hour or so. At 4:30 we were awoken to the buses audio system blarring out some chinese rendition of cats in a bag being hit with a bat. We just looked at each other and laughed, the rest of the bus occupants at that point knew for sure we were crazy. At 5:00am we arrived at the bus station, and after mixing up north and south, we drove in from the south, but entered the city from the north, go figure... Found a hotel and feel asleep till noon. Dunhaung is a nice quiet city, with a large tame market and lots of kids and families out shopping and enjoying the nice warm with a slight breeze Saturday afternoon. So for the rest of today we relax try and get a better price at our hotel for a couple of more nights, and figure out if we want to sled down 300 foot sand dunes or look at some very old buddhist artwork in caves tomorrow.
(sara) mom i prayed the whole time that we would finally get off that bus and make it to Dunhaung.. Tyson says it "wasn't that bad" he also said that about the dog who almost ate us, i think he just tricks himself into thinking that way... when deep down he knows he was scared!!! But we all know who brings reality into this adventure so i think we will be safe, no worries :). The bus i guess wasn't that bad, but it was definently going off the beaten path.. haha.. really all we could do was laugh because it was pretty ridiculous, i should have taken a picture. At least we take trains the rest of the ways.
Tyson and Sara
(sara) mom i prayed the whole time that we would finally get off that bus and make it to Dunhaung.. Tyson says it "wasn't that bad" he also said that about the dog who almost ate us, i think he just tricks himself into thinking that way... when deep down he knows he was scared!!! But we all know who brings reality into this adventure so i think we will be safe, no worries :). The bus i guess wasn't that bad, but it was definently going off the beaten path.. haha.. really all we could do was laugh because it was pretty ridiculous, i should have taken a picture. At least we take trains the rest of the ways.
Tyson and Sara
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Sara cheats at Go Fish!
I do not!!!
Tyson is lying... i did not cheat, i did what anyone would have done.. i saw the card and then asked him if he had it.. not my fault i saw the card! .. This is what we played on the train ride.. go fish, and War, and we tried to play Speed but we really didn't remember how. So the train ride was boring.. and i felt a little claustrophobic. Good thing there was only 3 people in our bunk instead of 6 like there could have been. I have never felt so White in my life.. we were the only white people on the train except for the rich other white people who got the "soft" sleepers and who boared the train before anyone else and who were shunned in thier own little private "white space", while we mingled in with the locals.. who thought we were crazy.
We tried to get dinner in the dinning car and after waiting for 30 minutes and watching other people get served.. we realized that we were not going to get any food, so we returned to our bunk.. hungry.. good thing we had brought along crackers, and bananas. Which seems to be the staple for the next couple of hours until we reach our next destination. We got into Geermu around 12:00 midnight and went straight to the nearest hotel. The hotel was alright, it looked really good until we sat on the bed which was i think a peice of wood with a sheet.. or at least if felt like it.. but we did find an english speaking movie channel i could hardly believe it.. it was even a little hard for me to follow hearing so much english in one show.. our plan was to sleep, get up at 7:00 am go to the bus station and buy a ticket to Dunhaung which is an 8 hour bus ride... we tried to get tickets but were told we needed a special permit to ride the bus and had to go to the police station to get it. We had known this before hand, but it also said in the guide book that it was possible to get tickets with out the permit.. well its not.
So down to the police station we went, and the man was kind enough to tell us that we need a photocopy of our passports, and pictures of us. Well we didn't have either, so we went to find a photo place and a photocopier. We did this all, and succesfully got our permit. So now we got bus tickets to Duhaung that leaves at 6pm tonight.... and now we have 4.5 hours to kill before getting on the bus and arriving in Duhaung at approximently 2:00am. Doesn't travelling sound like fun? We both have never been on a sleeper bus before, we have the top sleeper.. and the bus has no toliet.. are you kidding me? Mom i shoud have brought those disposable underwear!
Geermu is really just an industy town.. with no other white people in it.. that we know of .. haven't seen one yet. Feeling a little out of place here.. I hope there are some travellers in Duhaung and onwards. I guess we will just have to play more go fish and crazy 8's (which i win at all the time..).
Oh yeh Chandra we are in an internet gaming place and im pretty sure there are some guys beside us who are playing WOW right now? Maybe they are your friends? Do you play against Chinese People? haha i got a kick out of that.
Well on to hoping that the time goes fast..
See you in Duhaung where Sand awaits us.
Sara and Tyson
Tyson is lying... i did not cheat, i did what anyone would have done.. i saw the card and then asked him if he had it.. not my fault i saw the card! .. This is what we played on the train ride.. go fish, and War, and we tried to play Speed but we really didn't remember how. So the train ride was boring.. and i felt a little claustrophobic. Good thing there was only 3 people in our bunk instead of 6 like there could have been. I have never felt so White in my life.. we were the only white people on the train except for the rich other white people who got the "soft" sleepers and who boared the train before anyone else and who were shunned in thier own little private "white space", while we mingled in with the locals.. who thought we were crazy.
We tried to get dinner in the dinning car and after waiting for 30 minutes and watching other people get served.. we realized that we were not going to get any food, so we returned to our bunk.. hungry.. good thing we had brought along crackers, and bananas. Which seems to be the staple for the next couple of hours until we reach our next destination. We got into Geermu around 12:00 midnight and went straight to the nearest hotel. The hotel was alright, it looked really good until we sat on the bed which was i think a peice of wood with a sheet.. or at least if felt like it.. but we did find an english speaking movie channel i could hardly believe it.. it was even a little hard for me to follow hearing so much english in one show.. our plan was to sleep, get up at 7:00 am go to the bus station and buy a ticket to Dunhaung which is an 8 hour bus ride... we tried to get tickets but were told we needed a special permit to ride the bus and had to go to the police station to get it. We had known this before hand, but it also said in the guide book that it was possible to get tickets with out the permit.. well its not.
So down to the police station we went, and the man was kind enough to tell us that we need a photocopy of our passports, and pictures of us. Well we didn't have either, so we went to find a photo place and a photocopier. We did this all, and succesfully got our permit. So now we got bus tickets to Duhaung that leaves at 6pm tonight.... and now we have 4.5 hours to kill before getting on the bus and arriving in Duhaung at approximently 2:00am. Doesn't travelling sound like fun? We both have never been on a sleeper bus before, we have the top sleeper.. and the bus has no toliet.. are you kidding me? Mom i shoud have brought those disposable underwear!
Geermu is really just an industy town.. with no other white people in it.. that we know of .. haven't seen one yet. Feeling a little out of place here.. I hope there are some travellers in Duhaung and onwards. I guess we will just have to play more go fish and crazy 8's (which i win at all the time..).
Oh yeh Chandra we are in an internet gaming place and im pretty sure there are some guys beside us who are playing WOW right now? Maybe they are your friends? Do you play against Chinese People? haha i got a kick out of that.
Well on to hoping that the time goes fast..
See you in Duhaung where Sand awaits us.
Sara and Tyson
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Day Hike To a Place We Can't Remember The Name
The last stop, only half seen due to demon dog.
View of Lhasa from near Sera Tse
Wild Mountian Flowers (what are they Marilyn?)
Greetings friends and family,
So today we (well Tyson was already going to do it, I joined at the last moment) got up at 6:00am to go start our hike. We were really glad that we did it early in the morning because it got quite hot out once we were almost done. The hike took us approximently 7 hours with breaks, stops at monestaries for yak butter tea, and Tyson trying to get that "perfect" yak picture.. Its like the boy has never seen animals before. I think it looks like a cow, with horns, no big thing.
Trying to get to the starting point of the hike seemed to be a little troublesome early in the morning for about 3 taxis did not know where the heck we wanted to go, and we even had a Tibetan draw us a map and write down where we wanted to go in Tibetan, but still no go. The only guy who knew where we wanted to go was a Rickshaw driver.. he hailed down a taxi for us and explained where we wanted to go for him. After this he wanted money.. Tyson said no and that we would find his rickshaw later and take a ride.. because you know there aren't thousands or rickshaws around here as if we are going to see that guy again. (Tyson: his rickshaw number was 454, so I do mean on taking a ride) Anyways so in the Taxi we go.. and we were all good until we started going up a bit of mountain on a gravel/dirt road, this made the taxi driver upset and he started raising his voice and demanding more money after we had already agreed to pay him 30 yuan for the ride. I was getting a little nervous so i told Tyson we should just get out here and pay the man more money before he kicks us out. (Tyson: he ended up driving up the wrong road anyways). So out of the Taxi and the only way to get to the starting point which was a monestary. The only way we could get there was too.. well as Tyson said.. follow the goat path. I don't know what he was thinking, i am not a goat and i don't have feet like them to climb the side of a mountian with slippery rock. But we did it.. so apparently we are goats. So once we made it to the first monestary we saw a police car drive up the road.. both of us look at eachother and go "uh oh", since we are the only 2 people walking up this road... but the truck drove past us and waved and that was the end of that. The first monestary we tried to explore but there was some sort of service going on and well I didn't feel right going in and just watching.. so with some convincing to Tyson that we should move on, off we went past the male tortoise rock, and onto the kora path. We got to the second hermatige monastery within half an hour and we were greeted with arm open. The two monks that we saw opened up all the doors for us to explore and then offered us some yak butter tea, cookies, and barley flour. I had about 3 sips of yak butter tea which is like extremely well for me to take something from a stranger and drink it, while Tyson had a glass and then finished mine off. He also had a cookie.. the monk was so nice and kept trying to get us to eat the barley flour but even Tyson said no to that. (Tyson: I didn't know the correct way of eating it, plus I've never been much of a morning eater). So after we had our drinks, off we were to continue our hike. On the way out we kind of took the wrong trail and ended up having to scamber up another side of a mountain to get back on the right path and unto the third hermitage which was a nunnery around a cave used by a famous monk for meditating. We went into the nunnery and there was only one room we saw because it looked the nun was busy or not interested in us. We then followed the only other person who was a pilgrim for a bit to make sure we were going the right way. Along the way Tyson chased yaks like a little kid, while trying to get a good picture, and he took a picture of anything pretty much. The next stop was lunch, just before the sera tese monestary. After we ate lunch we arrived at sere tese which actually turned out to be a persons house no monks where found... the people invited us in and gave us hot water to drink. While Tyson drank his hot water there was a little girl doing practicing her Tibetan writting. We were suprized to see a family living there and no monks since in the guide book it was a monestary. On the way out we walked past a temple which was downstairs but it wasn't in use. So now we are almost done our hike by this point in time. There were a couple of other monestaries along the way but we couldn't get into them they were gated. So on arriving to our last monestary of the hike, Tyson got really excited because it looked really cool and interesting. We made our way down to the monestary and started saying hello and tashi de la.. but there was no answer. So being curious Tyson he wanted to go in anyways.. being realistic me.. i hesitated. But up the stairs we went.. to be greeted by a MASSIVE dog with a really loud bark who was .. thank god, chained up but was eager to eat us anyways. It scared the crap out of us and we both ran up the next stairs as fast as can be. But that wasn't enough to scare Tyson away .. even though he was shaking.. he wanted to get into the this place. So we went into the court yard, but still couldn't see anyone and could only hear the dog.. At the previous monestaries the dogs were half the size, not trying to break their chain, and did not look like the hell hounds from Ghostbusters. Usually once a dog starts barking someone comes to investigate, but not here. So we had to go around the corner where the dog was again to get down the stairs.. Tyson was still curious by this time.. and well as soon as i saw that the dog was trying to break his chain i fled down the stairs and down that dirt road never to return again!!! Tyson will return again, on another trip maybe in the first week in July when that kora is very popular with pilgrams, and the monestaries would be filled with people, not just a hell hound. It was funny because as we were walking down the road back to the valley bottom, Tyson holds out his hand and shows me like 5 little rocks he had that he was going to throw at a dog if it started to chase us... these rocks would have done nothing to this dog.. .. big brave man i am travelling with eh? The dog would have had Tyson as an appetizer and me as the main course. Other than walking down the service road in the blistering heat through a small village where the main road was far away from our guest house.. we eventually hailed down a taxi and were safely dropped off close to our guesthouse. After that we were spent, sat down had a snickers bar each.. mmmm and then rested for the rest of the afternoon. Then treated ourselves at dinner, Tyson had a Lhasa beer, and i had chocolate cake.
Tomorrow is our last day in Lhasa and then off to Golmud, or Geermu depending what nationality you are.
Sara and Tyson
So today we (well Tyson was already going to do it, I joined at the last moment) got up at 6:00am to go start our hike. We were really glad that we did it early in the morning because it got quite hot out once we were almost done. The hike took us approximently 7 hours with breaks, stops at monestaries for yak butter tea, and Tyson trying to get that "perfect" yak picture.. Its like the boy has never seen animals before. I think it looks like a cow, with horns, no big thing.
Trying to get to the starting point of the hike seemed to be a little troublesome early in the morning for about 3 taxis did not know where the heck we wanted to go, and we even had a Tibetan draw us a map and write down where we wanted to go in Tibetan, but still no go. The only guy who knew where we wanted to go was a Rickshaw driver.. he hailed down a taxi for us and explained where we wanted to go for him. After this he wanted money.. Tyson said no and that we would find his rickshaw later and take a ride.. because you know there aren't thousands or rickshaws around here as if we are going to see that guy again. (Tyson: his rickshaw number was 454, so I do mean on taking a ride) Anyways so in the Taxi we go.. and we were all good until we started going up a bit of mountain on a gravel/dirt road, this made the taxi driver upset and he started raising his voice and demanding more money after we had already agreed to pay him 30 yuan for the ride. I was getting a little nervous so i told Tyson we should just get out here and pay the man more money before he kicks us out. (Tyson: he ended up driving up the wrong road anyways). So out of the Taxi and the only way to get to the starting point which was a monestary. The only way we could get there was too.. well as Tyson said.. follow the goat path. I don't know what he was thinking, i am not a goat and i don't have feet like them to climb the side of a mountian with slippery rock. But we did it.. so apparently we are goats. So once we made it to the first monestary we saw a police car drive up the road.. both of us look at eachother and go "uh oh", since we are the only 2 people walking up this road... but the truck drove past us and waved and that was the end of that. The first monestary we tried to explore but there was some sort of service going on and well I didn't feel right going in and just watching.. so with some convincing to Tyson that we should move on, off we went past the male tortoise rock, and onto the kora path. We got to the second hermatige monastery within half an hour and we were greeted with arm open. The two monks that we saw opened up all the doors for us to explore and then offered us some yak butter tea, cookies, and barley flour. I had about 3 sips of yak butter tea which is like extremely well for me to take something from a stranger and drink it, while Tyson had a glass and then finished mine off. He also had a cookie.. the monk was so nice and kept trying to get us to eat the barley flour but even Tyson said no to that. (Tyson: I didn't know the correct way of eating it, plus I've never been much of a morning eater). So after we had our drinks, off we were to continue our hike. On the way out we kind of took the wrong trail and ended up having to scamber up another side of a mountain to get back on the right path and unto the third hermitage which was a nunnery around a cave used by a famous monk for meditating. We went into the nunnery and there was only one room we saw because it looked the nun was busy or not interested in us. We then followed the only other person who was a pilgrim for a bit to make sure we were going the right way. Along the way Tyson chased yaks like a little kid, while trying to get a good picture, and he took a picture of anything pretty much. The next stop was lunch, just before the sera tese monestary. After we ate lunch we arrived at sere tese which actually turned out to be a persons house no monks where found... the people invited us in and gave us hot water to drink. While Tyson drank his hot water there was a little girl doing practicing her Tibetan writting. We were suprized to see a family living there and no monks since in the guide book it was a monestary. On the way out we walked past a temple which was downstairs but it wasn't in use. So now we are almost done our hike by this point in time. There were a couple of other monestaries along the way but we couldn't get into them they were gated. So on arriving to our last monestary of the hike, Tyson got really excited because it looked really cool and interesting. We made our way down to the monestary and started saying hello and tashi de la.. but there was no answer. So being curious Tyson he wanted to go in anyways.. being realistic me.. i hesitated. But up the stairs we went.. to be greeted by a MASSIVE dog with a really loud bark who was .. thank god, chained up but was eager to eat us anyways. It scared the crap out of us and we both ran up the next stairs as fast as can be. But that wasn't enough to scare Tyson away .. even though he was shaking.. he wanted to get into the this place. So we went into the court yard, but still couldn't see anyone and could only hear the dog.. At the previous monestaries the dogs were half the size, not trying to break their chain, and did not look like the hell hounds from Ghostbusters. Usually once a dog starts barking someone comes to investigate, but not here. So we had to go around the corner where the dog was again to get down the stairs.. Tyson was still curious by this time.. and well as soon as i saw that the dog was trying to break his chain i fled down the stairs and down that dirt road never to return again!!! Tyson will return again, on another trip maybe in the first week in July when that kora is very popular with pilgrams, and the monestaries would be filled with people, not just a hell hound. It was funny because as we were walking down the road back to the valley bottom, Tyson holds out his hand and shows me like 5 little rocks he had that he was going to throw at a dog if it started to chase us... these rocks would have done nothing to this dog.. .. big brave man i am travelling with eh? The dog would have had Tyson as an appetizer and me as the main course. Other than walking down the service road in the blistering heat through a small village where the main road was far away from our guest house.. we eventually hailed down a taxi and were safely dropped off close to our guesthouse. After that we were spent, sat down had a snickers bar each.. mmmm and then rested for the rest of the afternoon. Then treated ourselves at dinner, Tyson had a Lhasa beer, and i had chocolate cake.
Tomorrow is our last day in Lhasa and then off to Golmud, or Geermu depending what nationality you are.
Sara and Tyson
Monday, May 21, 2007
The Place of Dreams, with No Sleep
View looking towards Namtso lake from the top of Tyson's scramble
I think i just finished lunch i look a little tired, or enjoying the view.
Typical view on the way to Namtso Lake , those are Yaks mom just like cows you see in alberta.
Sunset at Lake Namsto
Sara, freezing her arse off! (She shouldn't lean against the wall!) Also thats not a cold face, its a sunburnt face.
Our lovely Guest Shed.
So earlier today we returned from our overnight visit to Namsto Lake which is about 250 kilometers southwest of Lhasa. Almost as soon as the drive started, I realized that what we saw between Lhasa and Gantse and Shigatse was only one corner of Tibet, and we were about to see another. I'm also very sure there are many areas of Tibet that we've missed, but we'll save those for another trip. The agriculture that dominated the valleys on the way to and from Shigatse were replaced with pastures used for grazing sheep, goat, cow, and yak. Within half an hour as we followed the new train tracks up the valley, snow capped peaks were seen between the clouds. Now this was the Tibet of my dreams and imagination. Wide flat valleys with a small creek flowing through it filled with grazing animals, herders, tents made from yak skins, and then the flat valley ending in a wall of granite and sandstone that rose to snow capped peaks. I was giddy as could be. After climbing over a pass of approximately 4750 meters we dropped into the next valley, before taking a shape left. After paying 80 Yuan a piece to enter the area around Namsto Lake we switchbacked our way up. At the summit of the road (appromixately 5000 meters) there were terrific views of Namtso lake, but these weren't good enough for either me or Sara. As soon as the Land Cruiser stopped, we jumped from the truck and started towards the taller of the two peaks on either side of the pass. After about 5 minutes I stopped to look around and realized how hard I was breathing and how over the strong wind I could still hear my heart pounding. Sara decided at the first rock outcrop to turn around, while I continued upwards. This is where I made my mistake. If I had turned right I would have looped around to the back side of the mountain and made it all the way to the top. I turned left for quicker views. While I found myself terrific views I couldn't go any higher as the gulleys between the granite outcrops while not being as steep as other gulleys I've scrambled, at 5000+ meters, 3.5 hours from a hospital, and three people waiting for me in a truck, I was satisfied with where I was.
Half an hour later we arrived at Namtso lake, a massive salt water lake 4870 meters above sea level. We checked into the guesthouse (I'll let Sara describe the guesthouse later) and took our lunch and headed out around the pinnicula. Along the water, I told Sara that this was her Greece, because the color of the water, the pebble beach, and the blistering hot sun were all like I remember Greece to be like. The ice cold water, pilgrims, and the backdrop of snow covered peaks were the only things that said otherwise. It was a picture perfect spot with the mountains falling into great green plains dotted with sheep and yak and with very few people (5 minutes away from the guesthouses). This place was everything I thought Tibet could be and more. Favorite everything so far.
We returned from our walk for a dinner of rice and fired potatoes (french fries), and met a nice British couple currently living and working in Hong Kong. After taking some sunset pictures we retired to our room for the night. What a night it turned out to be...
The room was a sheet metal shed. There was sheet metal dividers between the rooms, not at all sound-proof. Also note that sheet metal is not a good insulator. You could not lock the door from the inside (although we were able to use some metal cable we had to make it so someone couldn't get in during the night. The floor was dirt covered with a piece of plastic that had wood panelling detail. The lone light in the room flickered with the generator. The sheets did look not too bad though. So Sara put on everything she owned, and I put on my long johns, socks, and a toque (I was too hot for most of the night). We got into our sleeping bags on one double bed (if they make a single this would be it. Jamed the provided pillows against the sheet metal (so Tyson wouldn't wake up stuck to the wall) and dresser that we pushed against the bed (so Sara wouldn't fall out). We then layered the provided blankets on top of the sleeping bags, and tried to go to sleep to the gentle purring of the generator. Next door our Driver, Sara says she reconized the voice decided to have a house party with music till well past the time the generator was suppose to turn off. And then it started, I don't know when but it lasted till sunrise. A dog barked nonstop for hours, no word of a lie. Lets just say with the noise, cold, and small bed there were lots of tossing and turning, and little sleep. Not to mention I was freezing and it took me all the way back to Lhasa to re-gain my body temperature (and im still wearing a sweater and a vest). I thought for we hit rock bottom for guesthouses here.. i was so close to just taking my sleeping bag and sleeping by the lake, at least if i was freezing i could freeze there and hear the soothing water insted a dog barking. Since we were up at 6:00am this day has felt like a marathon with it not even being dinner time yet. It was also hard to sleep because of the headaches we had with being 4870 meters up. (sara).
We were up at dawn and took some more photos before returning to Lhasa. Tomorrow I'm off on a day hike and Sara is relaxing here in the city. I have had enough of altitude trekking and scrambling my head throbs with every step.. Tyson is just crazy he also has a throbbing headache. (sara). Thursday morning we ride the Train to Golmud.
Tyson and Sara
Half an hour later we arrived at Namtso lake, a massive salt water lake 4870 meters above sea level. We checked into the guesthouse (I'll let Sara describe the guesthouse later) and took our lunch and headed out around the pinnicula. Along the water, I told Sara that this was her Greece, because the color of the water, the pebble beach, and the blistering hot sun were all like I remember Greece to be like. The ice cold water, pilgrims, and the backdrop of snow covered peaks were the only things that said otherwise. It was a picture perfect spot with the mountains falling into great green plains dotted with sheep and yak and with very few people (5 minutes away from the guesthouses). This place was everything I thought Tibet could be and more. Favorite everything so far.
We returned from our walk for a dinner of rice and fired potatoes (french fries), and met a nice British couple currently living and working in Hong Kong. After taking some sunset pictures we retired to our room for the night. What a night it turned out to be...
The room was a sheet metal shed. There was sheet metal dividers between the rooms, not at all sound-proof. Also note that sheet metal is not a good insulator. You could not lock the door from the inside (although we were able to use some metal cable we had to make it so someone couldn't get in during the night. The floor was dirt covered with a piece of plastic that had wood panelling detail. The lone light in the room flickered with the generator. The sheets did look not too bad though. So Sara put on everything she owned, and I put on my long johns, socks, and a toque (I was too hot for most of the night). We got into our sleeping bags on one double bed (if they make a single this would be it. Jamed the provided pillows against the sheet metal (so Tyson wouldn't wake up stuck to the wall) and dresser that we pushed against the bed (so Sara wouldn't fall out). We then layered the provided blankets on top of the sleeping bags, and tried to go to sleep to the gentle purring of the generator. Next door our Driver, Sara says she reconized the voice decided to have a house party with music till well past the time the generator was suppose to turn off. And then it started, I don't know when but it lasted till sunrise. A dog barked nonstop for hours, no word of a lie. Lets just say with the noise, cold, and small bed there were lots of tossing and turning, and little sleep. Not to mention I was freezing and it took me all the way back to Lhasa to re-gain my body temperature (and im still wearing a sweater and a vest). I thought for we hit rock bottom for guesthouses here.. i was so close to just taking my sleeping bag and sleeping by the lake, at least if i was freezing i could freeze there and hear the soothing water insted a dog barking. Since we were up at 6:00am this day has felt like a marathon with it not even being dinner time yet. It was also hard to sleep because of the headaches we had with being 4870 meters up. (sara).
We were up at dawn and took some more photos before returning to Lhasa. Tomorrow I'm off on a day hike and Sara is relaxing here in the city. I have had enough of altitude trekking and scrambling my head throbs with every step.. Tyson is just crazy he also has a throbbing headache. (sara). Thursday morning we ride the Train to Golmud.
Tyson and Sara
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The moment you all have been waiting for.. maybe only Peter!
Stairs leading up to the Potala Enterance
Tyson and his dream!
Tashi de la (Hello in Tibetan)
So today we slept in, it was nice.. (oh and we slept in yesterday Tyson was sure to point that out!) Anyways what i find funny is that whenever i am like lets go rest or take a break Tyson is like no i don't want to lets go for another walk.. and then i get him back to the guest house and who is first to fall asleep??? TYSON!!!! See he needs me so that he doesn't burn out! I just thought that you would all like to know that he he.
Yesterday we walked in the blistering sun to go and find me a yak sweater.. after searching far and wide (the entire bahkora) and after a little frustration, we could not find one :(. I thought for sure stuff would be made out of yak everywhere here but its really not, we have only found one thing so far and i can't tell you because i got a friend a present of one and i dont want her to know what it is. We also picked up other souvienours and many hours of barginning. I could not handle the sun anymore (i know who knew that would ever happen to me.. what am i to do in Greece? Oooo right there is water there!!!) Only near the end of all of this shopping did we feel that we were starting to bargin efficiently and get decent prices, but who knows we probably still over paid for everything. So after me complaining of the sun we decided to just bite the bullet and walk all the way to the tourist bureau to get us some train tickets to Golmud. This was an adventure in itself. At first we could not find the bureau after walking back and forth a couple times and asking numerous people who pointed in all 4 directions we finally found it. In the back corner of the government controlled courtyard with a big fancy hotel (What is that anyways a hotel? Do those exist?) Anyways, back to my story.. so Tyson went to ask the lady how much it was for the tickets.. she looked at him as if he were crazy... and well we didnt have any money to get the tickets right then .. so we decided to make a game plan. Me being the quarterback i took charge, sent Tyson to the bank, and i went to find me a chinese man who could speak some english.. or at least understand what i wanted from him. I got him to write in chinese that we wanted 2 tickets to golmud. TOUCH DOWN!!! It was a success.. well we hadn't got the tickets by that time, but we eventually did and we were not going to argue what type of seat or the time we wanted because we didn't know how to. So we ended up saving 200 Yuan from not using the travel agent and are on the last train out 10am on May 24, hard sleeper, or so we think. We are not really sure.... and i have never been on a train so i guess this is another experience. Since the sun was still beaming hot , Tyson got burned because he wasn't wearing sunscreen tisk tisk! He is starting to look a little Tibetan. Especially with drinking barley beer at 8 am. We ended up taking a rick shaw ride back and i felt terrible for making that man carry us on his bike in the sun.. i think those guys should be in the olympics for biking. We then were exhuasted and hungry so it was to my favorite resaturant the Dunya for some pizza (again).. then to bed.
Today we went to the Potala. I think we probably have about 30 pictures of this place... and i think Tyson might build a house looking similar to the Potala he is obsessed! The government staggers when people go in, as to limit huge crowds, and we probably had one of the worst times, 1pm, middle of the heat. So all was good, we were with some Americans who i thought were Chinese.. but they were from America and i ended up saying something stupid about americans.. whoops i learned my lesson!! Anyways these guys had just gotten off the plane i felt a little bad for them... but they did not bad. Of course Tyson was in such an excitement to just get up the stairs and get into the place. The stairs were not as bad as i thought they would be.. but thats not the whole story. So our guide took us 3 quarters of the way up to the ticket booth and then said i'll meet you at the exit when you are done because apparently she can't come in because if she did then we would only have an hour inside and we wanted more. So we asked if we needed anything and she said nope so we were like ok cool. So we trotted along and then got to the ticket booth and well no tickets for us!!! Why? Because we needed the time stamp and some papers which our guide had .. all the way back down the stairs at the exit. So after trying to call the travel agent with zero success, and the Americans were trying to explain the situation in Chinese to the people at the ticket booth.. but it was a no deal. So being a trooper Tyson was not going to wait any longer so down the stairs he went (there are alot of stairs) followed by one of the younger americans to help Tyson out if he needed him to speak chinese.. so i waited at the top with the other guy. Finally, they returned with our guide and the papers. The people at the ticket booth were not happy because we were late it was like 2:00 by the time we got in and we were suppose to be in by 1:00. But after some explaining and talking we got our tickets.
Most of the rooms in the white palace were closed off (this is the administrative center) but in the red palace there were alot more chapels and rooms to see. The red palace is where the D.L lived and studied during the winters. It was pretty amazing to see the exact place where this occurred. While going through the Red palace there is a strict no pictures/and security cameras everywhere. Follwed by a windy path through the rooms which you follow behind after tour group, after tour group, after tour group.. and some pilgrims (not as many as there are in other monasteries). (Tyson says that you couldn't escape the groups not my slowing down, speeding up, stopping, nothing, one after the other like the waves in the ocean. While the path through the red palace led through many amazing rooms, in was a 4 foot wide path with no escape. That was my only problem with the place. Otherwise the detail, size, and grandour of the place is impossible to describe to any effect. Imagine 9.5 meter high gold stumpas 7.5 meters wide for burial chambers all done with intricate designs and layered with many jewels and surrounded by gold and silver statues of buddhas and gods, and then surrouned by 1000's of scripts written in gold on selves on the wall, and the walls all painted with murals of buddhas and gods, and the the main light source being the yak butter tea lamps.) I do not think i will ever forget the smell of yak butter.. in fact i might have ate some on my toast the other day who knows really? Like Tyson described already the place was amazing. It was less crowded then all the other monasteries we went to which was nice. In almost all the chapels there were little statues about thousands of them that where along the walls that had such detail to them, we couldn't get over that and how ancient they were as long as how many hours went into making them. We really can't explain everything on here its just to much. I guess you will have to just come to see the Potala yourself (Peter). That was pretty much the day for us. Went for dinner at you guessed it, the same restaurant.... im a creature of habit i can't help that. But we had momos and they were the best momos we have had since being here, so very good they tasted more like a samosa this time with a little spice to it.
Right now it is threatening to rain outside. Sara thinks it would be amazing to see some thunder and lightening here, and I agree. On another note, I've never seen so much ping pong (table tennis) on TV. We've found CCTV 5 (I know of at least 16 CCTV channels) which is the sports channel, and if it isn't some football (soccer) match China is playing in Bangkok right now, or the NBA playoffs (only the Spurs vs. Suns though) it is pingpong. We are not complaining it feels a little like home when Tyson is watching Tv and i am napping. Don't worry we dont waste the day just watching CCTV 5.. just when we are taking a break.
Well tomorrow we are off to Nam'sto lake for one night, and Tyson will be really grumpy if this strom does not pass through and leaves us with rain for tomorrow that will disrupt the views of the mountains. We will then return to Lhasa for our last adventures in Tibet. I think Tyson just cried a little. His eyes are watery.. now hes laughing. We will post when we get back in 2 days. I hear we are stopping at a hot springs along the way.. thats kind of exciting.
Bye for now!
Sara and Tyson
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Gantse and Shigatse.
Gantse Gang (I love the kid with the pimp coat and hat)
Really old castle where the people had to pay thier taxes and which Tyson made me climb all the way to the top... he would eh?
Well we've returned from our outing into the countryside, and let me tell you I like the countryside a lot more than the hussel and bussel of Lhasa. We started off the trip by driving switchback after switchback up the side of the mountian to look at a lake. Unfortunity it was snowing and all fogged in once we reached the top. Despite the cold there were yaks, dogs, kids, and little old ladies trying to sell trinkets and pictures with their beasts, not to mention the kids wanting sweets or money. So after taking some pictures of the clouds we headed back down the mountian as the road by the lake straight to Gantse is under construction. About an hour after I became bored of driving along the main road, bam, a shortcut to Gantse. This shortcut took us over a dirt road that led through a couple of small towns over a sandy pass, and along some agricultural ditches. Although it is still early spring here and most of the wild plants have barely started to grow, the views were very desert like. On closer inspection one could see that even through they say the hills become green (seen in photos) the actually thickness of vegetation is not very much. Even now the little shrubs that were growing were being eaten by hungry yaks and sheep. The mountains are steep but all the valleys for the most part are very wide and flat. In these valleys a system of ditches carries water from the river to all the fields growing what I guess is barley but I'm not 100% sure. So when you look out over a valley the mountians and non-agricultural areas are brown while the valley bottoms are green. Most houses are arranged into small villages around flat areas of land in the valley bottoms. There is an outer courtyard whose walls are covered with drying yak dung and filled with the household's livestock. The house is built around an inner courtyard, and most new constructions are two stories tall, the maximum for the countryside, 4 stories here in Lhasa. In many places there are actual sand dunes, one of which we got the driver to stop so we could climb. The mountains are made from sedimentary rock and are covered higher up by about 2 inches of top soil.
Gantse is a small laid back town that has a large monestary and castle. We arrived and after dinner walked around the streets for about an hour. Lots of kids around as school runs 7-noon and then again from 3-6. Watched the classic game of pogs, slightly modified from the days we use to play. That evening we were treated to watch game four of the suns vs. spurs on tape delay, not that we knew the score previously. I won't go into the details of either the monestary or the castle for fear of boring you with length, or making Sara wait any longer to add her 2 cents.
Shigatse also houses a large monestry which after exploring extensively, I settled down in a small shady square to relax and observe pilgram behaviour. One curious little girl, whose mom was walking circles around three stupas decided to play with me. After playing with her I was treated to some yak butter tea from a thermas, which was delicious, way better then the stuff I've had at any eatery. The next morning I got up early to walk the kora, a pilgrim circuit around the outside of the monestary. I hope never to forget the churring of prayer wheels and the hum of prayers. Near the end of the kora I left the kora path and followed another path up to the top of the ridge behind the monestary. After about an hour of hard climbing I reached a small shrin to find two Tibetian women drinking yak butter tea. I joined them and enjoyed tea and then some Bali or barley beer at 8:30 in the morning. The views out over Shigatse were incredible, and I also learned alot about the right way to do things, ie, don't ever go over any prayer flag even if it is on the ground. I followed the ladies back down and after knocking on a house or two got a pen and paper so I could send them the picture I took of them. I had to almost have to run back to the hotel so as not to miss the Land Cruiser ride back to Lhasa. Lhasa is a lot busier now with tourists, not surprising I guess...
Tyson
Ok.. well now that Tyson has written a novel and could publish it called, "Tysons wonderful excrusion into Tibet", I on the other hand have not enjoyed this part of china as much as Tyson has. Mainly because i am not feeling hundred percent and while tyson eats whatever is thrown at him i am the one who gets sick. While i am not denying that this place is ordinary I am ready to leave China for the smells, the spitting, and the loudness of traffic horns is starting to really get to me. I was tolerant for awhile, but man now i just need to get somewhere else. A quiet beach would be nice! I guess the best part for me has been getting CCTV 5 a chinese sports station, hey you can watch sports in any language and understand what is going on, watching kids play or hassle me, and seeing what type of toast i will get in the morning. I am going to be really sick of toast and rice by the time i get home. I can tell already that Tyson and I are very different in our travelling styles. I cannot keep up with him, he doesn't understand the term "relaxation", where as i don't understand the term, "exploration". I don't know I guess the way I see it is if someone was going through my alley way to my house and they looked funny to me i would be a little mad i think. Sometimes i feel bad for being a "tourist" these people are probably so sick of people looking at thier monastary and not really understanding the true meaning of it all. It is ok though, because Tyson can keep doing his excursion and i am just fine with hanging back and relaxing. For people who think that travelling is a cake walk, i beg to differ!!! Maybe if i was in Western Europe or Australia or something like that then it would be a cake walk. Today i had a bad craving for chedder cheese, pickles, and cereal i know a wierd combination but its the little things you begin to miss and appreciate so much more. Leann I hope you have the fridge stocked in 3.5 months hahaha. Well i think Tyson pretty much explained it all, i just wanted to add my dose of reality for those who dream of magical travelling, its not all rainbows and gold you know! haha. But i really can't complain besides feeling ill, its a once and a life time experience and i get to plan the next trip.. !!!
Sara
Gantse is a small laid back town that has a large monestary and castle. We arrived and after dinner walked around the streets for about an hour. Lots of kids around as school runs 7-noon and then again from 3-6. Watched the classic game of pogs, slightly modified from the days we use to play. That evening we were treated to watch game four of the suns vs. spurs on tape delay, not that we knew the score previously. I won't go into the details of either the monestary or the castle for fear of boring you with length, or making Sara wait any longer to add her 2 cents.
Shigatse also houses a large monestry which after exploring extensively, I settled down in a small shady square to relax and observe pilgram behaviour. One curious little girl, whose mom was walking circles around three stupas decided to play with me. After playing with her I was treated to some yak butter tea from a thermas, which was delicious, way better then the stuff I've had at any eatery. The next morning I got up early to walk the kora, a pilgrim circuit around the outside of the monestary. I hope never to forget the churring of prayer wheels and the hum of prayers. Near the end of the kora I left the kora path and followed another path up to the top of the ridge behind the monestary. After about an hour of hard climbing I reached a small shrin to find two Tibetian women drinking yak butter tea. I joined them and enjoyed tea and then some Bali or barley beer at 8:30 in the morning. The views out over Shigatse were incredible, and I also learned alot about the right way to do things, ie, don't ever go over any prayer flag even if it is on the ground. I followed the ladies back down and after knocking on a house or two got a pen and paper so I could send them the picture I took of them. I had to almost have to run back to the hotel so as not to miss the Land Cruiser ride back to Lhasa. Lhasa is a lot busier now with tourists, not surprising I guess...
Tyson
Ok.. well now that Tyson has written a novel and could publish it called, "Tysons wonderful excrusion into Tibet", I on the other hand have not enjoyed this part of china as much as Tyson has. Mainly because i am not feeling hundred percent and while tyson eats whatever is thrown at him i am the one who gets sick. While i am not denying that this place is ordinary I am ready to leave China for the smells, the spitting, and the loudness of traffic horns is starting to really get to me. I was tolerant for awhile, but man now i just need to get somewhere else. A quiet beach would be nice! I guess the best part for me has been getting CCTV 5 a chinese sports station, hey you can watch sports in any language and understand what is going on, watching kids play or hassle me, and seeing what type of toast i will get in the morning. I am going to be really sick of toast and rice by the time i get home. I can tell already that Tyson and I are very different in our travelling styles. I cannot keep up with him, he doesn't understand the term "relaxation", where as i don't understand the term, "exploration". I don't know I guess the way I see it is if someone was going through my alley way to my house and they looked funny to me i would be a little mad i think. Sometimes i feel bad for being a "tourist" these people are probably so sick of people looking at thier monastary and not really understanding the true meaning of it all. It is ok though, because Tyson can keep doing his excursion and i am just fine with hanging back and relaxing. For people who think that travelling is a cake walk, i beg to differ!!! Maybe if i was in Western Europe or Australia or something like that then it would be a cake walk. Today i had a bad craving for chedder cheese, pickles, and cereal i know a wierd combination but its the little things you begin to miss and appreciate so much more. Leann I hope you have the fridge stocked in 3.5 months hahaha. Well i think Tyson pretty much explained it all, i just wanted to add my dose of reality for those who dream of magical travelling, its not all rainbows and gold you know! haha. But i really can't complain besides feeling ill, its a once and a life time experience and i get to plan the next trip.. !!!
Sara
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Jokhang
Potala
Prayer Wheels
Tyson over Bakhor Square
Sara circling one of the smaller temples in Bakhor
This morning I literally dragged Sara out of bed so that we could be at the Jokhang when the pilgrims arrived. Sara was not a happy camper, and toast with jam only slightly improved her mood. Before entering the Jokhang we walked around the inner pilgrim circuit that winds it way through the street of Barkhor clockwise around the Jokhang. Once we returned to the enterance we followed 3 young monks around the prayer wheel and into the courtyard. Here we searched for a good 10 minutes to find the monks selling the tickets, which we bought for 70 Yuan a piece but were never checked. Not that I mind paying to keep the holiest place for Tibetian buddism operating, and the yak butter lamps full. After recieveing the tickets we followed the pilgrims around to the left into a small chapel, before returning to the other side of the main inner courtyard and entering into the main temple. The crowds were thick to say the least. The smell of yak butter overwhelmed, while the chanting and praying gave the dark dim walls covered with buddist paintings a sense of wow. All along the wall chest touching the back of the person in front of you the piligrims slowly moved entering each of the side chapels dedicated to another god, king, of buddha. As they past a statue of personal importance a small offering was made. After about 2/12 or so side chapels the whole place became too overwhelming and we escaped to the roof. The roof is not on the pilgrim circuit and so was quiet except for the tourist groups. We were quickly able to escape even them but following the washroom signs to the living quarters of the Jokhang's remaining monks. Here we rested, watched a group of women pounding the roof flat while singing and using the dance steps combined with a type of stick with a big fat bottom to pound the ground. After enjoying the views from the roof, and enjoying the roof itself we decided to tackle the temple once more.
We got through the first 2 chapels without a line and then ended up behind a mother with her new baby who she would bless at any number of gods for protection, wisdom, longevity, etc. We slowly moved around until we reached the Chapel of Jowo Sakyamuni which contains a 1.5 meter high 12 year old Sakyamuni and is the most highly regarded relic in all of Tibet. Here the monks move you through with quick percission. Grabbing the pilgrims if they took to long to pray, which was about 1.5 seconds or so. We following along and were shown what to do by the very nice Tibetians who we had been standing in line with for the previous hour or so. After the Sakyamuni a guy who had been in line with us was kind enough to show us throught the rest of the pilgrim circuit in the correct order (not too hard just go clockwise and don't miss a room). We finally exited the temple around 1pm.
After the Jokhang we went to a couple of small temples tucked away with the streets of Barkhor. One was surounded by prayer wheels with one massive prayer wheel inside. The second contained a 2 story high incarnation of the coming buddha. After this we were for the most part templed out and returned to the guest house to drop off a couple of souvenirs before going for a lunch of vegetable chow mein and french fries that tasted like we were in a food court eating New York Fries. A nice change from Yak Butter Tea and momo's (momo is like a progey but filled with either meat or vegetables).
So now we are off for a little nap or stroll depending if your name is Sara or Tyson. While it isn't exactly hot here, the sun is a killer. By mid morning if you are in the sun you feel like someone has a huge magnifying glass on your back.
Tomorrow we are off to Gyanste and then Shigatse for a three day side trip, and I doubt we'll have internet along the way, although I've been surprised so far.
And for who asked Lhasa has approximately 200,000 people as per when our guide book was written.
Tyson and Sara
We got through the first 2 chapels without a line and then ended up behind a mother with her new baby who she would bless at any number of gods for protection, wisdom, longevity, etc. We slowly moved around until we reached the Chapel of Jowo Sakyamuni which contains a 1.5 meter high 12 year old Sakyamuni and is the most highly regarded relic in all of Tibet. Here the monks move you through with quick percission. Grabbing the pilgrims if they took to long to pray, which was about 1.5 seconds or so. We following along and were shown what to do by the very nice Tibetians who we had been standing in line with for the previous hour or so. After the Sakyamuni a guy who had been in line with us was kind enough to show us throught the rest of the pilgrim circuit in the correct order (not too hard just go clockwise and don't miss a room). We finally exited the temple around 1pm.
After the Jokhang we went to a couple of small temples tucked away with the streets of Barkhor. One was surounded by prayer wheels with one massive prayer wheel inside. The second contained a 2 story high incarnation of the coming buddha. After this we were for the most part templed out and returned to the guest house to drop off a couple of souvenirs before going for a lunch of vegetable chow mein and french fries that tasted like we were in a food court eating New York Fries. A nice change from Yak Butter Tea and momo's (momo is like a progey but filled with either meat or vegetables).
So now we are off for a little nap or stroll depending if your name is Sara or Tyson. While it isn't exactly hot here, the sun is a killer. By mid morning if you are in the sun you feel like someone has a huge magnifying glass on your back.
Tomorrow we are off to Gyanste and then Shigatse for a three day side trip, and I doubt we'll have internet along the way, although I've been surprised so far.
And for who asked Lhasa has approximately 200,000 people as per when our guide book was written.
Tyson and Sara
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Welcome to the destination of 11 years of dreaming
Pilgrams
Another Pilgram
Beijing Street Downtown Lhasa.
Beijing Street Downtown Lhasa.
So we've made it. We are in Lhasa. YIPPPY!!! Although both Sara and myself were not so yippy yesterday evening. We arrived at the Airport at 10:30 and were taken with another tourist from Sim's into Lhasa in a Land Cruiser. Much nicer and newer than the one I use to drive. Along the way we stopped at a buddist carving in the rock that was 1000 years old. The drive into Lhasa was not what I expected with the streets wide and looking very much like the outskirts of Beijing. And then we rounded the corner and saw the Potola. Which made everything okay. In the afternoon we walked past back to the People's square across from the Potola to take some pictures. Along the way we saw many stores selling the same designer clothing as seen on the major streets of Beijing as well. After a dinner of momo's we retired to bed early. I had a bit of a headace and Sara's tummy was not agreeing with her. Today we woke up feeling much better although a little sore from the long hours in the bed. We then proceeded to walk the narrow shop lined street of the Bakhora. We promised ourselves to only look today, but that didn't quite work out. We also found a couple of quiet side alleyways that we enjoyed walking down unhasselled. After a lunch of momo again we found this internet bar and decided to check up on things. We have one more day in Lhasa before heading to Shigaste for a 3 day excursion. Then back to Lhasa for 2 days before heading to Namsto Lake for two days, then back to Lhasa for 2 days before leaving on May 24th on the train to Golmud. So now we're off to explore some more of this wonderful city.
Tyson and Sara
(sara) While i do agree with it being beautiful... i do not enjoy the fact of high altitude!
Tyson and Sara
(sara) While i do agree with it being beautiful... i do not enjoy the fact of high altitude!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Chinese Opera The Next Best Thing Since Sliced Bread!
The costumes of the actors portraying the act of protecting the Han dynasty
Changing faces spitting fire, is anything cooler???
A typical street. Here we have Chinese Children coming from School, the elmentary children all wear these red scraves, and the highschool children wear Track suites that match which grade they are in.
Chinese checkers game, I don't know how to play yet...
(Sara) Well now, the moment you all have been waiting for... ... ... .. Regarding Tibet... ... .. .. .. ..
... ... ... .... the word on the street is... ... ... ... ... We are.. .. .. ... GOING!!! Well so they say... we still need to make sure they let us in to Tibet so keep sending good thoughts. So the next time we post we should be in Lhasa. Our flight leaves here at 8:30 tomorrow morning, so by the mid morning either we'll be in Tibet or not.
Today we walked around Chengdu and noticed that if you are looking for lets say.. a fan, you would have a wide range of who you would want to buy a fan from because there are about 50 fans stores right next to eachother all on a strip.. its kind of funny and interesting. After the fans, there was long cable wire.. and then cellphones.. followed by hot water heaters, and from there let your imagination run. After some walking around, and me finding some Cadbury Chocolate (MMMMMM) we headed back to the hostel to eat some dinner and check out some Chinese Opera!
My thoughts are that the Chinese opera is the next best thing since sliced bread. It was amazing!! So much entertainment and skilled performers.. i was amused and thought chinese comedy is funny to hear in chinese just that part made me laugh even if i didn't know what the heck was going on. If you ever get a chance to see some, i dont know if you would... but do it.. if not for the opera itself but at least for all the fancy make up and costumes that were so very colourful. The opera included acrobatics, fire breathing, face changing, comedy, solo violon sounding instrument, the orchestra, a chinese lady that sounded like a man when she spoke english (we think she had a male teacher teach her english), and puppets of the hand and very large variety. There was some more stuff, but we don't know how to properly describe it, not that what we have described does it much justice.
(Tyson) I really enjoyed walking around the city of Chengdu today, although at the end it was getting to be a few kilometers, seeing how the people of Chengdu spend their days. Besides all the stores selling the same stuff in a row we observed monks buying cell phones, middle school kids having lunch, chinese checkers, WOW (if you don't know ask someone who likes computer games), shoe shiners, and lots of people just going about their friday afternoon. The opera was as Sara said amazing. Well off to pack up and get ready, excited for tomorrow.
Sara and Tyson
... ... ... .... the word on the street is... ... ... ... ... We are.. .. .. ... GOING!!! Well so they say... we still need to make sure they let us in to Tibet so keep sending good thoughts. So the next time we post we should be in Lhasa. Our flight leaves here at 8:30 tomorrow morning, so by the mid morning either we'll be in Tibet or not.
Today we walked around Chengdu and noticed that if you are looking for lets say.. a fan, you would have a wide range of who you would want to buy a fan from because there are about 50 fans stores right next to eachother all on a strip.. its kind of funny and interesting. After the fans, there was long cable wire.. and then cellphones.. followed by hot water heaters, and from there let your imagination run. After some walking around, and me finding some Cadbury Chocolate (MMMMMM) we headed back to the hostel to eat some dinner and check out some Chinese Opera!
My thoughts are that the Chinese opera is the next best thing since sliced bread. It was amazing!! So much entertainment and skilled performers.. i was amused and thought chinese comedy is funny to hear in chinese just that part made me laugh even if i didn't know what the heck was going on. If you ever get a chance to see some, i dont know if you would... but do it.. if not for the opera itself but at least for all the fancy make up and costumes that were so very colourful. The opera included acrobatics, fire breathing, face changing, comedy, solo violon sounding instrument, the orchestra, a chinese lady that sounded like a man when she spoke english (we think she had a male teacher teach her english), and puppets of the hand and very large variety. There was some more stuff, but we don't know how to properly describe it, not that what we have described does it much justice.
(Tyson) I really enjoyed walking around the city of Chengdu today, although at the end it was getting to be a few kilometers, seeing how the people of Chengdu spend their days. Besides all the stores selling the same stuff in a row we observed monks buying cell phones, middle school kids having lunch, chinese checkers, WOW (if you don't know ask someone who likes computer games), shoe shiners, and lots of people just going about their friday afternoon. The opera was as Sara said amazing. Well off to pack up and get ready, excited for tomorrow.
Sara and Tyson
Thursday, May 10, 2007
The waiting game..
So after much debate, and consideration we've decided to try our best to get into Tibet. We've picked a 13 day tour of Tibet that includes trips out of Lhasa to Shigatse (3 days) and to Lake Namtsho (2 days). We've decided not to go to Everest base camp on this trip due to cost and the sensitivity of the issue. We find out tomorrow if our permit is approved, and it if is we leave on Saturday the 12th to Tibet. The price is steep but so is the mountains that circle the Tibetian plateau, as you need to be part of a guided tour to get the correct permits. Which means whenever we leave Lhasa we require a guide and truck to take us anyone. Even still I am becoming prematurally excited.
So yesterday, today, and tomorrow we wander the streets around our hostel, play ping-pong, fight off homesickness (does anyone know some treatment options?) surf the slow internet and wait, and wait... So in conclusion we are somewhat well rested (only somewhat due to the 24-7 construction taking place next door, I've finished my book, and just passing the hours until we hopefully get to spring into action and fly off to Lhasa on Saturday morning.
Tyson and Sara
So yesterday, today, and tomorrow we wander the streets around our hostel, play ping-pong, fight off homesickness (does anyone know some treatment options?) surf the slow internet and wait, and wait... So in conclusion we are somewhat well rested (only somewhat due to the 24-7 construction taking place next door, I've finished my book, and just passing the hours until we hopefully get to spring into action and fly off to Lhasa on Saturday morning.
Tyson and Sara
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Chengdu and Panda Bears
Bamboo is tasty...
I'm camera shy...
Sara's trip is now complete..
Hello,
So we're in Chengdu now and yesterday we couldn't get into our blog for whatever reason, but we're in now. Chengdu is a large city filled with smog and new construction but everything here is quieter and slower, and maybe even less polluted than in Beijing. Even still Beijing was clearer with it's army of street and sidewalk sweepers (not only the vechiles but the people too). Yesterday we had quite the meal for dinner, Sara didn't really enjoy it. We ended up in this resturant in the tourist old part of town. The menu had english subtitles and the choices included everything under the sun, and had pictures. Sara was almost sick at this point and was not in a happy mood. We ordered steamed vegetables and fried beef. All meat in the Schuian (sp?) province is spicy, and this was no different. I really enjoyed the vegetables, but Sara was sure I was going to get sick. The tea was also delicious, and agian Sara thought I was going to get sick. Sara waited till when I was almost done eating when the rice was brought out. You see here in China rice is considered a filler to be served at the end of the meal. Yesterday evening I was feeling a little bit sore in the tummy area, but I ended up being fine. It was really nice to read all the emails we recieved last night from people.
Today we got up and at 7:45 left for the Chengdu Panda Research Center. I've never seen Sara so excited to get out of bed in the morning, not ever, and never at that time in the morning. The research center is only 8 kilometers outside of town, and so we arrived shortly after it opened at 8am. We first went to an enclosure that held 4 young adult males. One was definitely a trouble maker, going around posing for the cameras, pushing over some of the others, and temperatorly waking up the one who was asleep. After about 20 minutes there it was off to the baby panada area. In that enclosure there was 8 panda cubs who were approximately 9 months old. All pandas are born around the same time as pandas only ovulate once a year. They were very cute, following around the keepers with the food, climbing around, falling down, and play fighting. And eating and sleeping which is almost exclusively what they do. They say 16 hours a day they spend eating. They were very cute and we got a few great shots out of the hundreds taken. We couldn't figure out how to hold a baby panda, but we found where you can touch a 1.5 year old panda, and Sara jumped up and down many times. She was very excited, and I think she enjoyed the experience. Yeah i was excited... except just so you know Panda hair is not soft it is bristly like a brush. (sara) After that we went and saw the red pandas, which was not what we expected. They look like raccons, but after spending a couple of hours watching giant pandas you start to notice the similarities, such as how they walk and eat. It was a nice facility over all and the crowds were not bad. We decided to take the afternoon off, while I finished my book. We were also able to make our way successfully through a large store that housed all the goods you would find at Wal-mart. Although there are seperate checkout for the fruit and veges where the price is affixed for the final cashier.
About Tibet. What we are hearing now is that you do need a group permit with a guide attached to go into Tibet. However you do not need a guide while in and around Lhasa. So what we are going to look into tomorrow is whether we can go to Lhasa for a while, do some day hikes around there and then do a short side trip with a guide so that we have a guided permit, although the itinerary needs to be pretty set. Wish us good luck.
Tyson and Sara
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Summer Palaces, Beauty Salons, & Souveniers
The long corridor at the Summer Palace (Sara was feeling artsy and took lots of pictures)
The octogon temple
Empresses temple to worship
Same octogon temple
Sara on the 17 gate bridge, beside a cute lion!
Hello everyone,
This is our last night in Beijing, oh where has the time gone. I know, long walks around old imperial courtyards in the blistering heat. Today I had a heat headache when I woke up and it didn't go anywhere all day, but the Summer Palace was on the agenda, and so away we went. The guide book said that you could take bus no. 808 directly from Quinen (spelling may be wrong) straight to the summer palace. We saw a number of 808 buses, but couldn't find the stop. So we decided to take the subway instead. A transfer and a taxi later we were there. I agree with Sara, that the summer palace was much nicer than the forbidden city. Spread out around a lake on a hillside were the same beautiful temples and palaces. I was surprised to see a number of temples dedicated to Bhoddisatva, I guess I don't know my history all that well. Some artifacts that were on display were 3000 years old, and while not quite as intricate as some of the newer pieces, were amazing due to their age and being cast out of bronze. The site as a whole was less crowded, and there was places to escape the crowds and the sun. As well there was a nice breeze coming off the water. After many hours of strolling around the grounds we headed home. Again we saw a number 808 bus, but agian no 808 stop, and we definetly looked for one (yes i can say we SURE did!!!! in the blistering heat.. from sara) So the taxi and metro would have to do. On the way from the metro to the hostel we did a little shopping. All the street venders have been pushing this metallic magnet things that they flip in the air and sound like a cricket. I wanted some, and paid 3 times what Sara paid for her's 5 minutes later. Sara also learned how to use them much quicker than me, and the noise that it makes is too much for a hotel room. I'm thinking of forgetting them here tomorrow already. Or maybe I'll pick up a couple more to give to small childern in Canada whose parents don't email us (Jen, Melissa this is directed at you). Finally after dinner we went to the upstairs of a beauty salon. Which can only mean one thing.... massages. Sara had a foot massage, while I also had a foot massage. After walking around so much these past days, did it ever feel amazing. Yep that is right we are living the high life here in Beijijng!!! We probably would have had more massaged but we didn't have enough cash with us. I think they just wanted to see if Tyson's body was as hairy as his legs!! They were buggin him in Chinese about it.. i chuckled! Anyways tomorrow we are off to Chengdu, to see some Panda bears (I have been waiting for this FOREVER... panda bear here I come!!! from sara), go to the Opera,, go to some tea houses and see what the situation is in Lhasa and Tibet (which Tyson has been waiting for for a much longer forever).
Take care,
Tyson and Sara
This is our last night in Beijing, oh where has the time gone. I know, long walks around old imperial courtyards in the blistering heat. Today I had a heat headache when I woke up and it didn't go anywhere all day, but the Summer Palace was on the agenda, and so away we went. The guide book said that you could take bus no. 808 directly from Quinen (spelling may be wrong) straight to the summer palace. We saw a number of 808 buses, but couldn't find the stop. So we decided to take the subway instead. A transfer and a taxi later we were there. I agree with Sara, that the summer palace was much nicer than the forbidden city. Spread out around a lake on a hillside were the same beautiful temples and palaces. I was surprised to see a number of temples dedicated to Bhoddisatva, I guess I don't know my history all that well. Some artifacts that were on display were 3000 years old, and while not quite as intricate as some of the newer pieces, were amazing due to their age and being cast out of bronze. The site as a whole was less crowded, and there was places to escape the crowds and the sun. As well there was a nice breeze coming off the water. After many hours of strolling around the grounds we headed home. Again we saw a number 808 bus, but agian no 808 stop, and we definetly looked for one (yes i can say we SURE did!!!! in the blistering heat.. from sara) So the taxi and metro would have to do. On the way from the metro to the hostel we did a little shopping. All the street venders have been pushing this metallic magnet things that they flip in the air and sound like a cricket. I wanted some, and paid 3 times what Sara paid for her's 5 minutes later. Sara also learned how to use them much quicker than me, and the noise that it makes is too much for a hotel room. I'm thinking of forgetting them here tomorrow already. Or maybe I'll pick up a couple more to give to small childern in Canada whose parents don't email us (Jen, Melissa this is directed at you). Finally after dinner we went to the upstairs of a beauty salon. Which can only mean one thing.... massages. Sara had a foot massage, while I also had a foot massage. After walking around so much these past days, did it ever feel amazing. Yep that is right we are living the high life here in Beijijng!!! We probably would have had more massaged but we didn't have enough cash with us. I think they just wanted to see if Tyson's body was as hairy as his legs!! They were buggin him in Chinese about it.. i chuckled! Anyways tomorrow we are off to Chengdu, to see some Panda bears (I have been waiting for this FOREVER... panda bear here I come!!! from sara), go to the Opera,, go to some tea houses and see what the situation is in Lhasa and Tibet (which Tyson has been waiting for for a much longer forever).
Take care,
Tyson and Sara
Saturday, May 5, 2007
The Forbidden Palace not so Forbidden!!
In China Children do not wear diapers like they do at home, how convienent to be able to just squat whith out pulling down your pants and holding them up above your ankles.. its harder than some of you think.. trust me! This is a little girl enjoying her day at the Forbidden Palace!
Bronze Dragon at the Forbidden Palace. Dragons are everywhere... but I already forget what they signify!
Bronze Dragon at the Forbidden Palace. Dragons are everywhere... but I already forget what they signify!
This is a little artistic photo of one of the places in the Forbidden Palace!
I would upload more photos but it takes so long and the internet is not as fast as at home!
Good Evening,
Today we went to the forbidden palace. It was packed!! I guess it does not help that it is a Chinese holiday. The palace in itself was huge! It has 8,000 rooms and it took us a long time to get around. While impressing at the start, by the end I was a little bored. I guess I had to start putting it into retrospect of the history of it and how no one could enter the palace except the emperor and his people, and not that long ago where the Chinese people allowed to get in and see what this palace was like.
Tonight we are very tired, and it is just Sara posting this because Tyson is already in bed. We have been going hard for the last couple of days trying to fit in all the sight seeing before we leave Beijing. Tomorrow is our last full day.
We got some not so good news the other day about Tibet. Apparantly some Americans went to Everest Base camp and protested and burnt a chinese flag while holding free tibet flags in the air. This has caused all Independant travelling to be cancelled due to these protests. Which means that if Tyson and I want any hope of getting into Tibet we will have to join a tour group and it is very expensive for they have also raised the prices of that. It seems that the Chinese Government is not impressed with Westerners and they have put military and police everywhere to enusre that people are only staying in Lhasa where they can be closely watched. This will probably mean we will have to rearrange our intineary. We will know more when we get to Chengdu on Monday.
Thats all for now!! I am tired!
Lates,
Sara:) and Tyson although he is sleeping .
Today we went to the forbidden palace. It was packed!! I guess it does not help that it is a Chinese holiday. The palace in itself was huge! It has 8,000 rooms and it took us a long time to get around. While impressing at the start, by the end I was a little bored. I guess I had to start putting it into retrospect of the history of it and how no one could enter the palace except the emperor and his people, and not that long ago where the Chinese people allowed to get in and see what this palace was like.
Tonight we are very tired, and it is just Sara posting this because Tyson is already in bed. We have been going hard for the last couple of days trying to fit in all the sight seeing before we leave Beijing. Tomorrow is our last full day.
We got some not so good news the other day about Tibet. Apparantly some Americans went to Everest Base camp and protested and burnt a chinese flag while holding free tibet flags in the air. This has caused all Independant travelling to be cancelled due to these protests. Which means that if Tyson and I want any hope of getting into Tibet we will have to join a tour group and it is very expensive for they have also raised the prices of that. It seems that the Chinese Government is not impressed with Westerners and they have put military and police everywhere to enusre that people are only staying in Lhasa where they can be closely watched. This will probably mean we will have to rearrange our intineary. We will know more when we get to Chengdu on Monday.
Thats all for now!! I am tired!
Lates,
Sara:) and Tyson although he is sleeping .
Friday, May 4, 2007
The "Secret" Great Wall of China
Kids in the village where we had lunch
Great Wall
Great wall in the other direction, just turn around and it goes on..
Our guide in one of the outposts (the one in the second picture)
Wow you guys and girls are getting spoiled with us posting everyday. But we like doing it because we like sharing with you what we are up too and its so nice to open emails and comments from home, so keep them coming :).
Today was an early morning up at 6:45 am in order to get ready for our travel and hike up the great wall of china. We had no idea what to expect coming into this hike, but it was absolutely amazing. To see the scenary, to be the only tourists on the wall, and to have a real local guide from a small village who did not speak a word of english but who was so kind in his own way. As usual never a dull moment in Beijing, the mini bus ride up to the secret wall was about 3 hours and that in itself is an adventure. We went through the city of beijing, saw the tourist version of the great wall which is in Badling, and let me tell you it was again from what we could see wall to wall people climbing this wall. We were so glad that we chose to do secret version of the wall.
The hike itself was about 4 hours long and it definently made us work. But it was well worth it, it was like i already said amazing, stunning, vibrant, and historical. The only disappointing thing was when we first reached the first outpost we were so excited to go inside and look around and take pictures but we were welcomed by a man who was trying to sell goods, like a tee shirt that said "I climbed the great wall", while i was a little interested to buy it, i realized that, that is not what this journey was about.. and i withdrew from evening attempting to bargin the man.
I agree with everything Sara has said so far about the day. My only regret about the day is that I couldn't keep going. There is so much wall, and all we got was three outposts, and a couple of kilometers of wall. Oh well. After returning to the village we were treated to a great meal prepared at a little guest house of sorts. Delicious, I tried a little of everything and nothing tasted bad, while Sara had about half of the stuff. All I can say about what we saw today, was that I hope some of the pictures show a glimps of the size and scale of the Great Wall of China.
Laters, Tyson and Sara
Today was an early morning up at 6:45 am in order to get ready for our travel and hike up the great wall of china. We had no idea what to expect coming into this hike, but it was absolutely amazing. To see the scenary, to be the only tourists on the wall, and to have a real local guide from a small village who did not speak a word of english but who was so kind in his own way. As usual never a dull moment in Beijing, the mini bus ride up to the secret wall was about 3 hours and that in itself is an adventure. We went through the city of beijing, saw the tourist version of the great wall which is in Badling, and let me tell you it was again from what we could see wall to wall people climbing this wall. We were so glad that we chose to do secret version of the wall.
The hike itself was about 4 hours long and it definently made us work. But it was well worth it, it was like i already said amazing, stunning, vibrant, and historical. The only disappointing thing was when we first reached the first outpost we were so excited to go inside and look around and take pictures but we were welcomed by a man who was trying to sell goods, like a tee shirt that said "I climbed the great wall", while i was a little interested to buy it, i realized that, that is not what this journey was about.. and i withdrew from evening attempting to bargin the man.
I agree with everything Sara has said so far about the day. My only regret about the day is that I couldn't keep going. There is so much wall, and all we got was three outposts, and a couple of kilometers of wall. Oh well. After returning to the village we were treated to a great meal prepared at a little guest house of sorts. Delicious, I tried a little of everything and nothing tasted bad, while Sara had about half of the stuff. All I can say about what we saw today, was that I hope some of the pictures show a glimps of the size and scale of the Great Wall of China.
Laters, Tyson and Sara
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