last stop, Lhasa

We're at 7 of 8 weeks. Instead of 2 weeks in Tibet, I decided to spend one of those in Yunan province, in the south. The area is known for its ethnic minorities and also backpackers passing through. But before I headed down there, I had to visit the Panda reserve in Chengdu! Its astounding how cute these animals can be.



They charge $150 to have a giant panda sit in your lap for a few minutes, but only $6 for the less popular but still darn cute red panda.

The train ride from Chengdu(the middle of China) to Kunming (south) was gorgeous. I wasn't even anticipating that.

One of my stops in Yunan was the Stone Forest where funky looking rocks have congregated for the last few million years.

Dali is a classic backpaper hangout sitting at the base of tall green mountains. Its interesting how similar these places are country to country. All the restaurants go for the rustic tiki aesthetic, play Bob Marley or U2, and serve banana pancakes and fresh fruit juice. You can also expect cheap or free net access, book exchanges, and encouraged traveler graffiti on tables or walls. Another standard fare are dirt cheap but crap accomodations. I was starting to fear for my lungs as the smell of mold from my bathroom was potent. Not the kind of town you want to stay for too long, but it can be nice swapping stories with other westerners and relaxing for a bit.
These are the Bai folks. They always declined my photo requests, so I had to sneak this one on the fly.

Tomorrow morning I board an overpriced flight to Lhasa. I have read blogs and talked to people, but still not totally sure what to expect. I know the lives of the Tibetans are fairly awful and I have a feeling that the tourists see little or none of that. If it isn't already, my email will definately be monitored in Tibet, so expect whatever I say to be watered down.

back up

The blog is back!

Our friends at the Chinese govt blocked all blogs on Blogger for whatever reason(not uncommon), and somehow also all images on Flickr. So instead of giving up, I decided to upload to Webshots and post to the blog via email. Hope it looks alright.


A week and a half ago

I am sitting in our minibus one the way to Turpan, our next destination. As far as I can see in all directions is brown, desolate earth with the odd factory far in the distance or the lost piece of a mud brick house. Behind us and in front of us are trucks continuing the silk roadjourney in a more modern form. The temperature here yesterday was 107degrees.

The train ride out here took us from another desert landcape of sand dunes, mountains, and caves. We were up yesterday morning very early to catch the sunrise over the sand dunes. My roomate and I tried to hike up a dune while everyone else (sadly plenty of other tourists had the same idea) took camels. The winds were strong and filled with sand. It took amazing will power to resist the temptation to pull out my camera for that quick shot. My friend and even our group leader gave into the photographic siren's song and damaged their cameras.

We talked to a lady who is arranging ahomestay visit for us with a Uyger family tonight. The whole Uyger thingis so interesting. These people look middle eastern, maybe Turkish, but not at all Chinese. They have their own language which is closest to what they speak in Uzbekistan, and even have their own time which is two hours earlier than the rest of China's. It should be an interesting evening.The signs here are in Uyger and Chinese, and donkey carts are common

3days later


The last place I found net access was too slow to upload this, so I will keep writing. I am now 6hrs into a boring 8hr minibus ride through the desert to the next town.Tomorrow's will be 12hrs. Ugh. I don&'t think any of us are really happy to be in the
desert again. The place we just left was perfect. It is a large turquoise lake in the mountains called Heavenly Lake. The temperature was mild and cool, and the mountains were green and some snow capped. We slept in a yurt for two nights that was warmed by a coal burning stove in the middle. When hiking up the hills, one finds more empty green valleys with tranquil views over the water. Its the type of place you tell yourself you just have to return to at somepoint in your life. We met a man who was there 25yrs ago and actually did return with his family. But like everywhere, the word is out and I bet I will have plenty of company if I return.





A small town we visited

06-19-2007

The tour is now over and I am on my own again. The famed market of Kashgar that I was told brought people from allover central asia was a disapointment, although the animal market was interesting

In case you've never seen a "fat-bottomed" sheep



Gonna miss those Uyger folks (pronounced "Weeger", or "Wiggly" if you are one person on our tour). It was tricky to really understand the culture. I mean we were in Uyger cities for two weeks but not really immersed or understanding what was going on around us. I know that in a sense theirs is an occupied territory like Tibet, and they apparently aren't too pleased about it, but what the foreigner sees is day to day living: markets, segregated chats on the side of the road, mud houses with incongruous impressive front doors(I have a series of photos of these), and plodding donkey carts or cheap motorcycles. Kashgar also has a decent sized Han Chinese population (the majority elsewhere). And as much as I liked the Uyger, there is a Chinese tradition that is just too precious. I know I talked about the Tai Chi in the mornings, but at night, they like to do something like slow motion line dancing and ballroom dancing. You see it in cities everywhere. This shot is in front of a shopping mall, on a weekday, around 11pm. Just imagine something like that in the U.S.

(Sorry its so dark. Those on brighter lcds will see it better)



I am now off to see if my man in Chengdu has been able to get me a permit into Tibet. Its not easy at the moment. Tomorrow I go to the Panda reserve!

Invisible again

Beijing was an instant respite from the celebrity like status I felt in many of the past cities. Plenty of westerners, and plenty of English (at least in hotels and restaurants). The city itself is not particularly attractive. Construction everywhere for the upcoming olympics, heavy smog, skyscrapers, upmarket hotels and shopping. But there are some decent attractions amid all the "cityness". Walking in Tiannamen square under the persistent gaze of Mao's giant portrait, it is hard not to be moved by all that has taken place there. The Forbidden city is full of stories of concubines and royal excess, not to mention a Starbucks whose symbolic value is unmistakable. There are ofcourse plenty of temples too if the dozen or so I had seen in the last month weren't sufficient.

After a couple days in Beijing, I started my Silk Road tour. There are only five people in our group, so it's all very manageable. The type of tour I am on prides itself on being very "untour-like", so we will get plenty of free time to soak up the culture. Besides, the areas I am going to would have been more tough to organize alone.

Probably the best thing thus far was going to a spot of the great wall a few hours outside of Beijing that our leader was keen on. It was an ambitious hike, but well worth it and there was even a zip-line over a lake for the final bit!

After a visit to Xian and the Teracotta warriors, we took an 18hr train ride to our first real stop along the silk road. I just arrived, but I know that in these areas, the people are of the Uiger minority group. They have their own language and are Muslim. Feels incongruous to see Chinese people wearing Muslim caps and saying "salam alekim" to each other.
(Needs some lightening)

This is one of those cities that you can tell was driven by communism more than capitalism as there are wide streets with few cars and state subsidized hotels with few occupants. A little like a modern ghost town.

While writing this, my roomate and I just got a predictable phone call. Its 10pm, and he was asked if we would like a "massage". Actually. it was all chinese, but he got the meaning. I have never been in a country where prostitution is so institutionalized. Most hotels either have something on the premises, or they have someone call your room at night. When I first figured this out, I got a knock on my door one night (after they tried unnsuccessfully to communicate on the phone) and a women came into my room speaking chinese. I was slow to pickup because I thought they thought I had requested something. I told her I didnt need anything but she kept making quack quack motions with her hands. It was kind of amusing till I realized that she was imitating a massage and then I was clear that I wasn't interested.

The challenge of communicating has been a continuing them of this trip. I have been working on my Chinese throughout, but its hardly just about memorizing vocabulary. For example, "ma" means four different things depending on your intonation. I remember that one is "mother", and one is "horse". So if I were to ask to ride someone's horse, and I got this off, I might find myself in a bit of trouble.

The classic Chinese street scene (notice the Mao jacket)