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We left for 2-3 years, but continued moving for nearly 14 years. Now we're heading home to Australia ... the long way.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Into Amdo region ... the only Tibetan area still open to foreigners
Rebkong (or Tongren to the Chinese)
Arrived at reception at 9:00am as planned to leave our big home-moving bags in the luggage room and take only our day sacks for the 6 nights in the hills. As usual, reception were a little awkward and couldn’t understand the concept of leaving luggage, but our Tibetan guide, Gonkho, forced the issue.
Gonkho is the son of nomadic herders from northern Sichuan province and is the first one in his family to have any education. His brother is still a nomad but the rest of his family are settled in a village. He grew up speaking only Tibetan, and at 18 started to learn English, and then had to learn Chinese so that he could have a "normal" job. That wouldn’t happen now because the Chinese have decreed that all children must learn Chinese and can choose between Tibetan and English as a 2nd language (in the hope that most will select English and that Tibetan will fade over a generation or two).
Gonkho is the son of nomadic herders from northern Sichuan province and is the first one in his family to have any education. His brother is still a nomad but the rest of his family are settled in a village. He grew up speaking only Tibetan, and at 18 started to learn English, and then had to learn Chinese so that he could have a "normal" job. That wouldn’t happen now because the Chinese have decreed that all children must learn Chinese and can choose between Tibetan and English as a 2nd language (in the hope that most will select English and that Tibetan will fade over a generation or two).
It becomes obvious quite early that there is great animosity between the Tibetans and the Chinese. Apart from being culturally and ethnically very different, with different languages, alphabet, customs and history, their ambitions and values appear to be at odds. The Chinese are more like Americans (total focus on progress, development, wealth, material goods, etc) while the Tibetans are more like the Italians (enjoy life, smile a lot, no hurry, etc). The comparison is even more appropriate when you consider the steamroller effect of the Chinese energy and business skills on a Tibetan society that just wants to be left to do its own thing at its own pace. Chinese tourists love to visit the Tibetan areas for the culture and lifestyle but can not understand why their presence, suggestions, and money are often resented.
Of course, the influence of recent history has few comparisons in the West. The cruel and heavy-handed treatment is not only extreme, but is also very fresh in every Tibetan's mind (eg. 2003 and 2008). Even the horrific brutality of Mao’s cultural revolution (destroying 6,000 temples and killing countless monks) was less than 40-50 years ago and therefore living memory to many Tibetans. I can identify with this a little because it took Ireland 50 years after independence to cast off the baggage of history and therefore to enjoy a mature relationship with England. China and Tibet have not even started on the road to reconciliation yet.
To illustrate the frustration felt by Tibetans, Tibet is currently closed to foreigners and to non-TAR Tibetans because of a Chinese celebration in Lhasa, at which the authorities neither want foreigners nor Tibetans to be present. Spending billions of yuan on Tibetan infrastructure (roads, bridges, hospitals) is no substitute for acknowledging that Tibetans are different and should be respected as Tibetans. Whether it needs independence or a Hong Kong style Special Administrative Region is a matter for politicians and diplomats to work out, but attitudes must change first. As an Irishman whose birth was a mere 4 years after that of the Irish republic, I can identify with the long time needed to build trust in a powerful neighbor.
Anyhow, back to the itinerary. On day 1, we headed to Rebkong and visited some monasteries on the way. As you know, neither of us are religious people, so the fascination of the visits was to see and understand the Tibetans, especially since Tibetan Buddhism seems to be an enormous influence on their daily lives. The weather was rainy and the hotel was more like another Moscow state-run hotel … large and bleak with grumpy staff. I later discovered that the hotel was indeed owned by the Chinese Government … evidence yet again of the Chinese skills at copying things from the west!!
Rebkong was not an exciting town, so we’d only make a passing visit if we were doing it again
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| De China in June 2011 |
The highlight, apart from some great monasteries, was the wedding in front of our Soviet style hotel. We jumped up at the sound of firecrackers … and saw lots of men setting off 100’s of firecrackers in the car park. Everybody was running for cover as the bride was driven up … but she had to wait until the smoke cleared before she could get out of the car.
Later we walked into town. A dreary place, partly because of the rain, but it looked like a scene from an 1880’s Western. Broken roads and kerbs, mud everywhere, bikes going every which way, and people trying to negotiate obstacles along what used to be kerbs. A rough place.
The only Tibetan restaurant was closed. Strange that there’s only 1 Tibetan restaurant in a town that is supposed to be Tibetan.
Finally we bought a souvenir … a mandala supposedly relating to the Buddhist God of Compassion. Having bought the mandala, the painter/monk invited us to a little party/fête that the village were having in the local common field. However, when we got there, the Chinese army had decide to shoot some movie footage of themselves doing some manouevres and would not permit anybody into the area. So as the villagers and monks were assembled at the locked and manned gate to the field, wondering what to do, we parted company and headed for Labrang.
Labrang (or Xia He to the Chinese)
On the other hand, the journey from Rebkong to Labrang and our time in Labrang itself were definite highlights of the entire 2-month escapade.
First, the journey up onto the grasslands … fantastic … 3,500 metres altitude … much more lush grass than in Siberia or on the Mongolian steppes.
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We stopped at a monastery, but it was closed. For me at least, that was a bit of a relief because the previous day had exceeded my ability to digest monasteries for a little while. And besides, I was more enthralled by the scenery … the grasslands, the snow-capped peaks … the mud walled houses … not to mention the assortment of cows, sheep, goats, horses and especially yaks roaming everywhere, even on the road.
Access to these regions
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Ust as well that we didn’t include a visit to Lhasa. We had considered it but it can be a bit complicated, and everything we read suggested that it’s now more Chinese than Tibetan, and overrun with hawkers (not to mention being quite restricted in terms of where you can go). The Amdo region (and also the Kham region in Sichuan) are much more authentic and easier to access.
Tibet itself will be closed to foreigners from next week, because of a Chinese anniversary celebration. Part of Kham has been closed for some time, and the remainder has just been closed, so the only remaining part open at this point is Amdo. Phew. Makes it tricky for tour operators because they get very little notice of closures, let alone the duration of the closure. And the tour operators have been told not to tell foreigners of any advices that these areas are to be closed.
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| This is where Karen wanted to live ... very simply for the next few years |
Tsewong’s café and Tsampa ... and tea with yak’s milk ... followed shortly by a need for that spare toilet roll.
The Highlight of the Trip into Amdo
On the long drive back to Xining, Gonkho suggested that we stop off somewhere so that Gumpo the driver could have break. So he just chose a monastery at random. Boy what a choice .... even if it was pure luck.
The trouble with visiting out of the way monsasteries is that you have to hope (and pray) that there's somebody home so that you can get in. However, if the abbott is at home, and if they are about to perform some activity, then it can be truly exciting.
In this case, the monks were all in the Assembly Hall, but as they left, Gonkho had a chat and explained at we were Irish and Australian. Well, he'd never heard of Ireland, but he was quite excited about Australia because the Big D (Dalai Lama) was visiting Melbourne at that time. As a consequence, he invited us all to come with them and observe as they undertook the strange process by which Tibetan monks learn to debate.
But first the monks assembled in front of the Abbott and the Disclipline master the one with the biggest hat an with the Staff), so thatanothe senior monk could lead them in throast singing.
Then they brok e into smaller groups, each with one or two sitting on the ground, andwith several standing arg
On the long drive back to Xining, Gonkho suggested that we stop off somewhere so that Gumpo the driver could have break. So he just chose a monastery at random. Boy what a choice .... even if it was pure luck.
The trouble with visiting out of the way monsasteries is that you have to hope (and pray) that there's somebody home so that you can get in. However, if the abbott is at home, and if they are about to perform some activity, then it can be truly exciting.
In this case, the monks were all in the Assembly Hall, but as they left, Gonkho had a chat and explained at we were Irish and Australian. Well, he'd never heard of Ireland, but he was quite excited about Australia because the Big D (Dalai Lama) was visiting Melbourne at that time. As a consequence, he invited us all to come with them and observe as they undertook the strange process by which Tibetan monks learn to debate.
But first the monks assembled in front of the Abbott and the Disclipline master the one with the biggest hat an with the Staff), so thatanothe senior monk could lead them in throast singing.
Then they brok e into smaller groups, each with one or two sitting on the ground, andwith several standing arg
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The drive back to Xining ... and the end of our Tibetan adventure ... so enjoy the view along the legendary Yellow River:
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Wednesday, July 6, 2011
To Xi'an and onward to Xining
Xi’an
Uneventful flight to Xi’an … especially considering the horror stories we’d heard about domestic travel in China. After this experience, I can say that flying in China is a lot better than flying on European budget airlines, whether EasyJet, AerLingus or especially RyanAir.
None of you will be reading this until after we have arrived in Australia … assuming that I can be bothered to load it all onto the blog … and assuming that you can be bother to read any of it so long after the events have occurred.
Mostly we can get access to the internet … generally free but slow and only by ethernet cable … so no more responding to emails while lying in bed. Which internet is free, the toilet paper is rationed as if it were gold leaf paper … anyone travelling in China is advised to carry spare rolls. The hotel stock would be inadequate in normal circumstances … but is totally inadequate in a country where you will have days when multiple urgent visits are required on one day.
Xi'an was great ... and the IBIS was really good ... apart from the brekkie which was purely Chinese ... and therefore more like lunch or evening meal than brekkie. But at $28 per night ... ... in fact, identical to all IBIS in Europe ... the hotel was great.
After the luxury of the Hilton in Beijing (on airmiles), we're staying in the IBIS (part of that huge French chain Accor) in Xi'an ... where everything in 100% IBIS (as if we were still in Europe), but the price is $28 per night … including airconditioning ... free cable wifi ... and very clean The breakfast is only $3 but boiled cabbage and rice is far too Asian for us at that hour of the morning … but would be wonderful in the evening when done Sichuan style.
Activities:
went to see the Terracotta Army ... I’d been there before in 2006 but it’s still astounding. To think that 3,000 years ago, an Emperor had an entire army (current estimate is 8-10,000 soldiers) created in terracotta and chariots (100’s) created in bronze, not to mention supporting workers, cooks etc. All because he believed that he would need the same infrastructure in the afterlife as he had while living. Then the burial grounds were sealed … and remained undiscovered until 1974.
and of couse, the Terracotta Army ... staggering craftmanship ... imagine creating 8-10,000 terracotta versions of soldiers (infantry, officers, generals, etc), chariots, horses ... and then burying them all underground in a mausoleum ... all because the Emperor thought that he'd need his same army in teh afterlife as on Earth. they were created 3,000 years ago ... and only rediscovered in 1974 when someone was drilling for water.
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Restaurants are always fun when nothing is intelligible. Last night, we made do with the dictionary ... and my faltering pronounciation of those words that I thought I knew. Amusingly, the girl took my dictionary from me ... and spent the rest of the evening writing down English food/service related words for her own use ... and then thanked me profusely.
As usual, we had 3 big courses plus rice ... plus 3 bottles of 500ml beer ... for the princely sum of 108 yuan ... or about $15 in your money. On the way home, i picked up my usual 1.5 litre bottle of water, another 500ml beer, and a chocolate bar ... all for less than $1 in the local milk bar.
Meals in Xi'an itself were fantastic ... great spicy food ... and typically £10-15 for 4 courses and 3 x 500ml bottles of beer. Definitely eating out all of the time ... apart from brekkie cos we want our coffee and nto much else ... funny but Allbran is never on teh menus :-) There were several Starbucks ... quite good ... and a Tall Cappucino for £3-4.
Oh, but Xi'an airport took the biscuit for gouging of captive customers ... there were lots and lots of coffee shops ... odd in itself over here ... but they all charged $9 for a cup of coffee ... and almost $14 for special grind. Needless to say, all of the coffee shops were totally empty ... that's way more than we'd pay in Switzerland ... let alone for a non-coffee drinking Chinaman would pay.
The mayhem can be wearing ... the chaotic traffic ... the noise ... the pollution ... the impenetrable signs. On the other hand, the people are so friendly ... and nobody has tried to pickpocket us or the like.
Cycled the entire wall of the Xi’an ... it's big and wide like the Great Wall ... and is one of the very few intact the entire way around. It takes about 90 minutes of steady pedaling to do a lap, and it’s quite hard on the behind because it’s all stone paving which varies from ok to painful. A wonderful experience.
Developed a nasty painful rash on my ankles, and then higher up, especially after 5-6 hours of walking. Maybe it’s the heat, but I’ve done that much walking in heat many times before. Perhaps it’s party psychological and partly it being at 2,200 metres in a very dry part of China.
Two restaurants stood out … the First Noodle Company … and King Town No 1 (Sichuan) … both very Chinese and on the same street … and not too far from our hotel.
We had an amusing interaction in 1st Noodle. In our patchy Chinese we discussed world peace and the Tibetan issue … no, not really. But we did exchange some words. Finally, the waitress asked where we were staying, and we said at a hotel near the wall. She asked “duoshaogian?” (how much?) … to which I replied “er bai kuai yi tian” (200 yuan per night … about $30). She was horrified. So while $30 was incredibly cheap to us, it was incredibly expensive to her.
Xining
Another uneventful flight … between a clean modern Xi’an airport and a clean modern Xining airport.
Xining is much smaller and quieter ... although still quite animated with its modest 2m population (Xi'an was about 7m and Beijing of course is up toward 20m). We have 2 Tibetan monks in the rooms next to us ... Karen wanted to ask them why they were not staying in a monastery somewhere.
Food here is a bigger challenge ... no English ... no Pinyin ... no pictures of what the dishes might be.
And scooters here are motorised ... 99% of the ones in Xi'an especially were electric ... i was very impressed ... they'd even converted rickshaws and tuktuks to run on battery ... there were bikes parked everywhere plugged in. The scary bit is not hearing them ... especially as cars and scooters, especially scooters, use the footpath all the time ... in either direction ... but mostly they honk furiously to get pedestrians out of the way. Oh, and even the police ignore the "green man" lights ...
Amusing are the manic “green men” on some of the lights … they read our minds.
But in Xining they seem a bit more orderly on the road ... although we almost had a head-on coming in from the airport ... because a guy drove up the "down side" of the ramp.
Next day, we will be heading off with our guide Gonkho and driver Gompo to visit the Tibetan Amdo region. But Karen was already excited because we had 2 Tibetan monks in the room next to us in Xining.
The hotel is the opposite to IBIS and more like Moscow state hotels ... very big rooms, but completely empty, and looking seriously the worse for wear ... you don't really want to walk on the carpet in your bare feet. Oh, and somewhat grumpy reception staff.
An example occurred when we asked reception, with aid of a Chinese-English speaker, if we could get some laundry done:
Friend: “My friends here would like to get some laundry done. Is that possible?”
Receptionist: “No”
Friend: “Really, is there a problem?”
Receptionist: “This hotel does not have a laundry service”
Friend: “But my friends say that the information book in their room lists a laundry service”
Receptionist: “We do not have a laundry service”
Also an amusing rule from the same information book … at the San Yu Hotel in Xining:
Rule 7: Illegal activities such as superstition promotion, sotting, fighting, gambling, drug-taking, prostitution, rascaldom and spreading of reactive ideas, porn videos, photos and audios are forbidden in our hotel. After a few nights really struggling to get decent food in Xining, we finally got some tips from an American who runs a coffee shop called the GlassHouse. To find a Sichuan restaurant, don’t look for the normal Chinese characters for Sichuan, instead look for the old characters from some dynasty yonks ago. He got one of his staff to write down the characters … and we went prowling. Soon we had some fantastic food again … just like in Xi’an. Incidentally, the Glasshouse has coffee as good as Lugano, and has cinnamon buns better than anywhere we’ve experienced in Australia, UK or the US. Near the Glasshouse was another good find … a place called Bill’s Place … which serves really good fajitas, burgers, pizzas and beer … in case you need some comfort food. These two places are obviously considerably more expensive than the Chinese restaurants but still 10-15% less than Switzerland.
The best eating places were a Sichuan restaurant on SiYu road opposite the big old Wall/Gate … and a Halal place called 13 Flavours.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Some video clips between Moscow and Beijing
Were we meant to be on that one?
Ah, now that's typical ... the trains are so long that you miss half the scenery waiting for the coal trains to pass by:
Lake Baikal was very serene ... but then so was Karen at 4:00am.
It's also the deepest freshwater lake in the world, and supposedly could keep th world supplied for 40 years. The water can be drunk straight from the lake ... courtesy of a sponge like plant that perfectly filters all of the pollutants. Yes really.
... and our daily walk was limited to this corridor:
Just as well that we didn't stop for a look outside ... it looks a bit chilly:
One of the few long stops (ie. more than 5-10 minutes) ... this one took a while because they had to replace our electric engine with a diesel one:
From Ulaan Baatar, we had to get a taxi to the Ger encampment. This taxi ride started on normal broken and pot-holed roads, but we soon headed across the Steppes where Genghis Khan ruled 700 years ago. Fasten your seat belts and come along for the ride ...
This is the little party put on by the staff at the Ger tent in Mongolia ... all in English ... and they had no idea what they were singing ...
The suburbs of Ulaan Baatar ... notice the Ger tents (same as Yuerts) in the gardens of the houses ... many people prefer to live in them still:
In China, crossing the road is quite a challenge ... and it is reflected in the frantic pace of the "little green man"
Ah, now that's typical ... the trains are so long that you miss half the scenery waiting for the coal trains to pass by:
Lake Baikal was very serene ... but then so was Karen at 4:00am.
It's also the deepest freshwater lake in the world, and supposedly could keep th world supplied for 40 years. The water can be drunk straight from the lake ... courtesy of a sponge like plant that perfectly filters all of the pollutants. Yes really.
... and our daily walk was limited to this corridor:
Just as well that we didn't stop for a look outside ... it looks a bit chilly:
One of the few long stops (ie. more than 5-10 minutes) ... this one took a while because they had to replace our electric engine with a diesel one:
From Ulaan Baatar, we had to get a taxi to the Ger encampment. This taxi ride started on normal broken and pot-holed roads, but we soon headed across the Steppes where Genghis Khan ruled 700 years ago. Fasten your seat belts and come along for the ride ...
This is the little party put on by the staff at the Ger tent in Mongolia ... all in English ... and they had no idea what they were singing ...
The suburbs of Ulaan Baatar ... notice the Ger tents (same as Yuerts) in the gardens of the houses ... many people prefer to live in them still:
In China, crossing the road is quite a challenge ... and it is reflected in the frantic pace of the "little green man"
Black Humour meets the Party … Black Humour 0; The Party 1
The Beijing hotel was a pleasant surprise … booked on airlines … but a lot more upmarket than I expected … it was back to good old corporate travel standards. No early starts forecast for a few days … so much R&R anticipated.
Of course, the first priority was updating the blog … and that’s when I bumped into Party Central … or more correctly the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China … whose internet censorship is legendary. Not only could I not access Facebook, Youtube, Picasa, Blogger, etc … but I couldn’t log into my Witopia VPN account … which has but 2 purposes in life … one is to protect our data transfer when in wifi hotspots, hotels, etc … but also to allow us foreigners to access our normal networking accounts when in China. But it seems like China has managed to crack Witopia as well.
It’s tough to imagine what life is life when all the normal means of sharing information and data are out of reach … how quickly we have gotten used to such methods. Even mentioning words like “blog” in an email results in the email getting a “service interruption” message of the sort that I have never received in the past 4 years of using our Swiss ISP.
Of course, we just have to become a little more creative. So thanks to Clive for www.vtunnel.com, and thanks to the brother Ken for taking my emails and attached photos and loading them for me. Of course, since the new ghost writer is my brother, who knows what editorial liberties will be exercised from Australia before my text gets posted onto the blog.
The other inconvenience in China was the implementation of the rest of our itinerary. Because Chinese trains can only be booked from the city of departure and then only 5-10 days ahead of travel date, and then only if the train originates in that city, we could not finalise our train tour around China in advance. It became much worse when we discovered that all trains for the 4 days after our planned departure from Beijing, and then from Xi’an were fully booked … and this is early summer season in China.
After much frustration … and many wobblies being thrown by she who planned so much so early … and who likes to have everything confirmed and in place … we had to abandon train travel and revert to flights between all destinations. This decision was deemed rational when we read the other article in the China Daily … explaining how a man bought a sleeper ticket for the bullet train to Shanghai only to find that he’d been allocated to the dining car … and sheets were handed to him … and he was told to sleep where he can with scores of other passengers in the same dining car. Apparently, the local stations have discretion to sell tickets in whatever manner they decide. Perhaps someone from China Railways will be sent for execution in the next 12 months.
Some observations from Beijing:
I read the Moscow Times at the start of our Trans-Siberian and then read China Daily at the end. What a contrast. Corruption is prominent at both ends, but the response of top leadership is startlingly different. It would appear in Russia that top leadership turns a blind eye to most of the goings on (if not being directly involved) whereas in China, top leadership takes hard action on those involved (while almost certainly deeply involved themselves).
For instance, China Daily reported how 1900+ people were charged with procedural contraventions in their last audit. Of these, less than 100 were guilty of negligence, while the remaining 1,800 were charged with taking bribes, sharing some $40m between them. The Minister responsible for awarding construction projects was found guilty and sentenced to death. Imagine any other Government sentencing one of its ministers to death.
BTW, if you want to understand some more of the behind-the-scenes operation of the Chinese Government, there’s an interesting new book called The Party: the Secret World of China’a Communist Rulers by Richard McGregor. I had to finish reading it before leaving Europe because having it in my possession here might have been detrimental to my well being.
The other obvious comparison is between the infrastructures …. While Moscow has full supermarket shelves and shiny black limousines … Beijing has both of those plus a city skyline and highways that would match anything in the US or even Dubai. I was amazed at the dramatic architecture of the monumental office blocks that are scattered all around Beijing … they do “big” in a manner than Texas could only dream about.
Of course, we did all of the usual sightseeing things … Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Bell Tower, Drum Tower, the Hutongs, and the Great Wall. But you can read all about those in the 1,000’s of other blogs that people have written about Beijing sightseeing.
More entertaining were the little toddlers, all of whom have arseless trousers … presumably for speed and convenience. The traffic … slightly more organized than in Mongolia … but needing just as strong a will (and good peripheral vision) when negotiating pedestrian crossings … even police cars will ignore the “green man”. The night market … where they offer grilled scorpions, sicadas, penis, testicles, etc … Karen declined all offers from the vendors … especially when one of them offers “little dicks”.
Far fewer bicycles than I recall from my last visit in 2006 … and so many cars … and so many enormous, truly monumental, buildings all across Beijing. It makes Moscow, and most Western cities, seem poor and unkempt.
Of course, I also got to try out my Mandarin. Not surprisingly, there are many puzzled looks, but I have had some successes in giving directions to taxi drivers, without any destinations written in script, and in shops/restaurants. By the time we’re finished in China, I should be much more effective, but still pathetic.
For our last evening, we went down our local street and took a chance. 3 great dishes and some Tsingdao beers for 122 yuan, or about €14 depending on the day of the week. But on our 2nd last night, we had to splash out, because Karen had yet to have her birthday dinner. So we choose a restaurant called Xiao Wang in the Embassy District, that had really good write-ups especially for its Peking Duck. After a seriously long walk in 30C heat, we got to the park within which the restaurant is nestled. What a find. Beautiful setting in the park, beautiful setting inside (think Raffles) and really really scrumptious food. But the biggest surprise (apart from them having run out of Prosecco) was that the bill for the Peking Duck, 2 side dishes and an overpriced Chilean wine, was £50.
Finally on the day before our departure, we took the trip to the Great Wall. I was my usual cynical self about this, but to see it in the flesh, and to walk several really arduous kilometers along the wall, really brings home the scale of the undertaking all those years ago. It’s far more steep and precipitous than I had imagined, and the wall runs along several ridges upon which it would be challenging to hike, let alone to which someone had to carry a great many blocks of stone to erect the world’s greatest (but not very effective) defence.
The Great Wall was well worth the long trip ... beyond the very touristy Badaling … to Mutianyu. I was quite cynical beforehand ... because items that you read about so often ... and also often disappointing because they're just like what had been imagined from the reading ... but the location and effort of building that wall was something else.
A few photos to break up all that rambling above:
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Each major Chinese city has a Drum Tower and a Bell Tower ... so we had to visit:
... and from there we went to see some strange people in a park ... a sort of Chinese-Turkish vaudeville:
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