4August2009
Posted by oulin under: travel.
Xinjiang was beautiful and impressive except that the expensive tickets and entrance fees for scenic spots were really turning us off. Who can say they own the nature and charge us for being there? I had a feeling that things would be better once we got down to Sichuan. We took the longest train ride in our lives from Kashgar to Chengdu, transferring in Turpan, total 66 hours! We were stuck on the upper beds the entire time with many curious Chinese people and hyper kids. We had some fun despite the boredom though. 
The ride seemed to be bearable when we thought about it after it was over. But let’s put it this way, if it had been one hour longer, there probably would have been some kids being strangled by us.
It felt like we were back to China after arriving in Chengdu. This city reminded me a lot of Guangzhou actually. It’s very green and laidback. Food was fantastic! My old friend Wanglu who’s from Sichuan took us to some real authentic restaurants on the street so we did have a good taste of the famous hotpot. I
t’s kind of ironic how our taste for Sichuan food spoiled by those Sichuan restaurants outside of Sichuan. Abram thought food in Sichuan was not spicy enough. The real Sichuan dishes are more “numb” than spicy actually. I had a great time eating there. If I had stayed a bit longer, I might have been able to gain a few kilos back 
Seeing Wanglu again made me really appreciate the unconditional friendship from the old friends I made during my years in Guangzhou. It’s been 8 years since I moved away from Guangzhou. Lots happened during these years. We all have been through a lot. Though we don’t keep in touch that much, the good memories and friendship just never change. Wanglu took us to his hometown Pengzhou and showed us Xiaoyudong area which was severely damaged from the earthquake last year. It was very sad to see a lot of people were still living in those temporary homes with only very basic furniture and appliances in them. 
There were still tons of ruins haven’t been cleared up yet. New houses are being built though. We saw some very nice new houses on the way up there. Some people moved into the new houses already and seemed quite comfortable living there. However, they’ve lost so much during the earthquake. The scar in their mind will never go away.
I went to visit another good friend’s hometown Leshan and stayed with her parents. We were so taken care of by her parents and cousin. Felt like we were kids again 
The giant Buddha was very impressive even though I have seen so many photos of it before. What’s lovely about it was that grasses were growing out from its head J From the Buddha, we had a great view to Leshan city. The city and the nature were separated by 3 big rivers, Qingyi River, Min River and Daduhe River which meet right in front of the Buddha. 
The rapids of Daduhe ran in and created big swirls in the middle of the joining point. We could also see three different colors of the three rivers joining and turning into one. That was quite something else.
Now it’s time to go Tibetan! I’ve been always looking forward to this part of the journey. The Tibetan Sichuan – Khampa area was a very spiritual route according to many blogs. After being in Xiahe, I was very eager to learn more about Tibetan culture. West and northern Sichuan were once part of Tibet in history and were deeply influenced by its culture and religions. It seemed to us that many Tibetans were just born to become a Buddhist. 
Some small towns like Tagong seemed to be built FOR the monasteries around it instead the other way around. I together with my new friends Jesus and Sole from Argentina had a wonderful chat with the head of a Buddhist school in a Monastery in Litang. It was very inspiring to me. Although we were from very different cultures and speak in different languages, we showed a great deal of respect to each other and communicated in a super friendly atmosphere. The more I saw and heard about it, the more I was interested in Buddhism. Although Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism were from the same root and follow the same philosophy and principles, the way how Tibetans show their sincerity and dedication to it just make Tibetan Buddhism seem so much more “authentic”. The Tibetan monasteries were very quiet without hundreds of people yelling and burning incenses like most of the Chinese temples. They were for sincere Buddhists to pray and monks to study. They were holy. 
I felt very peaceful being in them. The monks were leading a very simple life style- study, follow the doctrine and seek for emancipation. Looking at the smiley faces of the monks also made me believe studying Buddhism could bring people inner peace.
The road condition being horrible is also very “famous” for the Khampa area J Well, I was not disappointed about that at all! The roads we took through Danba, Tagong, Litang and Daocheng to Shangri-la were mostly in the mountains. They were most of the time very winding. Often we passed parts which were flooded or muddy or with serious landslides. I was more excited than being “scared” to be honest. Since tourism is getting more and more developed in these areas, villages started to get enough fund to repair the roads. In a few years, travelers who take the same route might not have the chance to experience the adventure and excitement sitting in the crowded minivan, gasping at some turns and thinking “OMG, I am going to die! I am going to die!” 
One thing must be mentioned and it’s one of the most unusual experience I’ve ever had. We went to a sky burial in Litang. Litang is the place for sky burials for 3 or 4 counties around it. So people sometimes can see up to 10 funerals in one day. Many people especially westerners are very curious about this traditional ceremony. The owner of the Potala Hotel in town who seems to have very good relationship with everyone can help to arrange the visit and sometimes people are even allowed to take pictures at the funerals. Normally sky burials will be held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 
We arrived on Thursday and went with some people from the hotel to the site early next day. The site is on a hill about 30 min walk from the town. I have heard about it before but never knew how it actually was proceed. But there was no funeral when we arrived. So we just wandered around and waited hoping there would be one later. We saw about fifteen to twenty vultures staying on top of the hill. The grassland had patches on it where black soil was exposed and no grass grew on them. The soil seemed to be a bit “greasy”. Later we found out it was because the human body’s acid and grease contaminated the soil so nothing would grow on it. Vulture’s feathers could be seen everywhere as well. They must be fighting when eating the bodies. We were a bit disturbed when suddenly realized there were many small pieces of bones scattered on the ground. At the same time, we felt a bit puzzled when we saw some big rocks, knives and scissors lying there. Well, we found out what they were for later. A few Tibetan guys arrived with a Lama when we were still wandering around. They told us there wouldn’t be any funeral that day but they were going to have two the next day and we may come and watch then. The Lama was there to help them pick the spots. So we stayed and watched how it went. At first the Lama walked around and picked a spot. Then he sat down starting to pray for about 15 minutes. After that, the guys marked the spot with a thick stick they brought, and a little sticky barley cake with yak butter on in front of the stick. So, the next morning in the rain, all of us went there again. When we arrived, the first funeral was about to finish already. We were told it’s ok to watch but no photos. 
We were standing about 20 meters away from the spot. We couldn’t see it very well, but could tell the “Cutter” was smashing the bones on the rock with a hammer. I felt very odd to be there. I felt even with respect and distance, we were definitely interrupting the funeral. I didn’t feel I should stay any longer after the birds started eating the bones. Jesus and Sole felt the same way. So we left before the second burial started. We went to the monastery to see the monk’s debate. Abram and the rest of the group stayed and saw the whole thing. The body was laid down on the chest naked. The “Cutter” cut the body open in the back so the birds can easily get to the organs, then once the “Cutter” walked aside, about 20 birds immediately flew down and covered the body. Abram said they couldn’t see the body at all at that time but they could smell the strong smell from it. In a very short time maybe less than 10 minutes, the birds left the body which now was only a bloody skeleton. All flesh was gone! Then the “Cutter” went over and dragged the skeleton to the rock and started to smash it into very small pieces, then wrapped them with sticky barley cake. After that, the birds came again. Again, in about 10 minutes, most of the bones were gone! There were some bigger pieces left so the “Cutter” redid the smashing part again until the birds ate almost all of it. Some of the people who had watched the sky burial described that it made them feel that’s what our human bodies were at the end, just food to the birds and it didn’t mean that much to the nature. I suppose it is only natural that we return to the nature after we die. Our flesh and bones could still contribute to the birds this way. However, I’d rather to have a cremation instead of sky burial when I die. One thing occurred to us later that there were no women at the funerals. A British girl, Sole and I were the only women there. I wonder if it’s the tradition that women were not allowed to attend the funeral.
In many ways Tibetan culture is fascinating to me, from what we can see from outside, such as the way they dress, their beautiful houses and their traditions to their internal world like their believe, religions and how they pursue the truth in their own way. I admire those people who live in a harsh environment, have limited supplies or so called luxuries in their lives, maybe are poor in money, but they are truly happy and rich in spirit.
* for more photos please go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621786068483/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621910873188/
20July2009
Posted by oulin under: O Space.
sorry guys, i don’t know why the pictures i put on my posts couldn’t go to the right places i want them to be, quite frustrating… i will try to upload them on facebook or flikr once i have a chance. please bare with me for now. also sorry for my poor writing, but still hope you enjoy reading it. i hope to share with you about my trip. miss you all!
20July2009
Posted by oulin under: travel.
I didn’t really know much about the big West of China. Taking up part of the Silk Road and heading north into Xinjiang was the plan to get to know about it. The beautiful Oasis Dunhuang gave me a chance to relax a bit from the frustration of my terrible experience in Lanzhou. We stayed in a little cottage inside an apricot farm under the famous sand dun (Mingsha Shan) in Dunhuang. 
The fine orange sand, dark blue sky and silver moon composed a breath taking picture in the evening. Since we entered the western time zone, the sun wouldn’t go down till 9:30pm or 10pm. People were very active in the evenings, hanging out on the streets, playing games in parks and, of course, shopping around at the night markets. You could see trees and flowers everywhere in the city. People were living so close to the nature. Houses a bit away from the city center were normally surrounded by trees mostly apricot trees. Before the sand storm started later that week, I was thinking it could be a place for me to stay for a while. But when the sand storm arrived, we could do nothing but just staying in. Everything would be covered by sand in no time once it’s exposed in air. I had to constantly wipe off the sand on my face and hair. It’s even hard to breathe normally. We were kind of stuck for two days in the hostel. The last day of our stay, we met two young British who have been traveling in the Americas and south east Asia for a long time and it was toward the end of their trip. They were taking the similar route into Xinjiang. It seemed that we might have some interesting travel companions.
Tulufan (Turpan) was relatively relaxing as well. Because of the heat, not many people were on the street. Grape vines were visible everywhere. Some streets were shaded by vines. Bunches of green grapes were hanging down. They looked like strands of jade pearls, shiny and luring. Putaogou (the famous vineyard area) was very much worth a visit. You would see traditional Uyghur houses along the road up the hill. Everyone had a big courtyard covered by grape vines. If you walked in one of them, you would find beds covered by colorful carpets and mattresses in the courtyards. People would be sipping tea and eating fruits on those beds. Baskets of different raisins would be lining up on the other side of the yard. The owner of the house would invite you to try the raisins and of course, he would also try to sell you the most expensive ones. I found the dark ones scented with roses quite nice, which were also the most expensive ones. It’s RMB160 per kilo. The owner wasn’t very content when we said we only wanted half kilo. These raisins became great snacks for the next two weeks especially during our trekking. 
We were lucky to be in Xinjiang before the horrible riot on July 5. Wulumuqi was a very modern Chinese city. Hardly could find any minority characteristic in it. It’s also a big melting pot of dozens of ethnic groups living in it. I didn’t feel any tension between Uyghurs and Hans when I was there. People were quite nice to me in general. We took 4 days exploring the city and organized our 6 day trip to the northern Xinjiang with our new British friends. This trip included two days of horse riding across some of the most beautiful birch forests and landscapes in Kanas area. We all felt quite excited although it was a bit on the high end of our budget. While we were wandering around the city, the most fascinating thing was the way they made bread there. They stuck the dough on the inner wall of a huge clay pot with charcoals burning inside. When the bread was baked, it would fall on the bottom of the pot and the bakers would pick them out quickly with a long iron stick with a hook at the end. Abram took some interesting time-lapse of it. It could be nice to have a stove like that at home, huh? Anybody fancy some fresh nan? Yum yum…
Kanas was considered the fairy lands for many people. It wasn’t easy to get to. We’ve got to take a ten hour bus ride to Buerjin. We stayed there for a night stocked up food for the trekking then transferred to Jiadengyu the next morning where began the Kanas Scenic National Park. We made a stop at a remote Kazakhi village-Hemu before we went on the horse riding trip. Hemu used to be the summer homes for nomads in this area. As the tourism in the area started to bloom in the past decade, those lovely wooden houses were all turned into different home inns or shops for tourists. We hired our horses there as well, RMB150/horse/day. On a cloudy cold morning, we set off the trip we had been looking forward to in the past week. The landscape and weather were changing constantly. We were crossing woods, rivers, rocky plains, climbing up and down epic mountains. It could be sunny, cloudy, rainy, warm and cold within half an hour. But we were so excited we didn’t mind it at all. When we passed the rocky area and finally saw some flat grass land, we let our horses run. The wind was blowing our hair and scenery was falling behind rapidly. Nothing could feel better or more free than galloping on the horse. We were screaming and laughing so hard. 
At the end of the first day, we arrived at Black Lake a usual camping spot on this route. It was incredible. It was snowing! Some snow was still not melted beside the lake. We found it hard to believe it was in late June. The temperature dropped to only 3 degrees in the evening. Lucky our sleeping bags were very warm thanks to KingKong – our guide J He took care of everything- setting up the tent, cooking, coordinating with the horse guides and locals nomads. What a man! I had never been on real camping before, no mentioned on a horse back riding across beautiful deserted areas for two days in a row. This was a completely new experience for me. 
I could have never imagined myself not having shower for 6 days but not complaining about it at all. Living in a material world had made me forgot the beauty of the nature and the pleasance of being in the nature. 
Too many attachments and desires in life prevented me to feel free. To live with limited belongings and experience as much as I could became important at this point of life. Kashgar was our destination after Kanas. 
The old town was disappearing rapidly everyday. It was odd to see Mao’s statue in the middle of the city. Propaganda banners could be seen everywhere. People didn’t feel free to talk about their opinion of the integration of the Han culture happening in this city. 
I could feel their sadness and disappointment deep inside. 10 days or so later my friends texted me about the riot. I felt very sad. Can two different strong cultures like Islamic and Chinese and their people ever live in peace together? Is there a way to resolve problems and hate caused by the history, politics and religions? Violence is definitely not the answer.
* for more photos please go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621770080327/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621777129325/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621902423446/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621904685690/
10July2009
Posted by oulin under: travel.
“No tickets for foreigners to Xiahe.” The lady behind the ticket window at the Lanzhou Bus Station said, after she saw Abram standing behind me. “Why not? I heard it’s reopen in May.” I tried. “I don’t know why, but that’s what the police told us.” She responded without much an expression on her face. “pft…” I knew I couldn’t really fight this. So we looked up at the Gansu map above the windows trying to find a place that’s close to Xiahe but not Tibetan. Linxia seemed to fit in that category. I went back to the window and asked if foreigners were allowed there. She nodded reluctantly: “ I need the copy of his passport though.”
After a bowl of real Lanzhou lamian, my energy came back to me a bit. We were lucky. There was a copy shop opened right across the street. 20 minutes later, our adventure began. 
We arrived in Linxia, a Muslim town. A guy at the bus station told us to just get on the bus then pay the driver 50kuai instead of 20kuai to go to Xiahe because they wouldn’t sell any tickets to foreigner at the station. It’s the same thing as in Lanzhou. We took the advice. After we got on the bus, I played the “ I’m a Chinese trick” to pay only 20kuai-the Chinese price. The ride was very pleasant as we were very excited as our little plan seemed to work out quite well. Our mood got higher and higher. The scenery changed after a while into beautiful green hills with terrace fields and nice little villages scattered around. We were driving along the winding Da Xiahe River. The water in the river got bigger and more rapid when we went higher. The sky went bigger and bluer. When our bus slowly got in the town, we saw a group of soldiers marching out from the town with machine guns on their shoulders. For a second it seemed so surreal to me. This town was one of the first few places where the Tibetan riot started last year. It looked like the situation hasn’t completely gone back to “normal”, yet. The locals welcomed us at the bus station. We were just feeling happy to make it there. We didn’t think too much about being “discreet” when we saw the smiley faces around us.
The sky was so blue, luring us to go out. Our hostel was in walking distance to the famous Labrang Temple, the second most holy Tibetan temple after Potala Temple in Lhasa. Having a short cut through the field following two young Lamas, we found ourselves standing in front of an impressively long corridor with colorful praying wheels along the wall. The monastery was huge like a little city. The praying wheels surrounded the monastery all the way, which, I think, would take at least 2 hours to finish turning all of them. Two Lamas led us to visit the main palace. When we came out we saw red ropes scattered on a hill across the road. Orange sun light was shining on them. It seemed time had stopped and the Lamas lives hadn’t been changed at all after all this modern development. I felt so peaceful just looking at them. Maybe that’s why Tibetan culture appealed so fascinating to many people. 
After discussing with a lady from Dongguan, we agreed to hire a car the next day to take us up to the Sang Ge Grassland where we could stay over night in a Tibetan yurt. Well, this trip didn’t turn out quite well. We asked the driver to stop around the corner of the hostel as we realized our coffee was in the trunk when. Abram went out to get it. Right before he returned, a mid-age Tibetan guy approached our car and chatted a bit with our driver. Later he stuck his head in the car, then told us he’s a police officer and we were requested to show him our IDs. I was waiting for the “bad” news when I handed our passports to him. Instead of kicking us out right away, surprisingly he let us to stay for the day visiting the grassland and the temple but we were requested to leave Xiahe within that day. He said that to us politely, but we all understood that there was no bargaining there. He took our passports away and wished us a good day. We did feel lucky to be able to stay for the day though. We tried to enjoy this given good day as much as we could. Everything, the scenery, first experience of Tibetan yak milk tea and yogurt, first time horse galloping and overlooking at the Labrang Temple on the hill in late afternoon sunshine, etc., was epic and great. Xiahe still is the one of the most beautiful and spiritual places I have ever been to. However, most of the time that day we were thinking how we could make it to stay a couple more days either in Xiahe or in villages nearby. As the day was passing by, our hope got lower and lower since the police guy kept calling our driver to check on us. The worst of all was when we got back to the police station at 6:30pm to pick up our passports, we found out we would be escorted by the driver and his friend, and we had to pay for our ride back to Lanzhou! No further discussion there either. The police warned us if they found us stopping in any other places other than Lanzhou, we would be in deep trouble. Pft…
Loaded with local Baijiu and beers, we were reluctantly on our way back to Lanzhou. After downing 1/3 of the baijiu, we started to feel skeptical about this whole thing. Was it a scam?! He never showed us his badge, he said he knew the driver, we had to pay for our ride… wait! It didn’t seem right at all!!! Well, we couldn’t fight it too much back then. Even so many weeks had passed by, we still have that question in our mind from time to time. Hopefully one day I will return to that peaceful land.
* for more photos please go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37833026@N06/sets/72157621769517039/
The ride seemed to be bearable when we thought about it after it was over. But let’s put it this way, if it had been one hour longer, there probably would have been some kids being strangled by us. 
t’s kind of ironic how our taste for Sichuan food spoiled by those Sichuan restaurants outside of Sichuan. Abram thought food in Sichuan was not spicy enough. The real Sichuan dishes are more “numb” than spicy actually. I had a great time eating there. If I had stayed a bit longer, I might have been able to gain a few kilos back 
There were still tons of ruins haven’t been cleared up yet. New houses are being built though. We saw some very nice new houses on the way up there. Some people moved into the new houses already and seemed quite comfortable living there. However, they’ve lost so much during the earthquake. The scar in their mind will never go away. 
I went to visit another good friend’s hometown Leshan and stayed with her parents. We were so taken care of by her parents and cousin. Felt like we were kids again 
The rapids of Daduhe ran in and created big swirls in the middle of the joining point. We could also see three different colors of the three rivers joining and turning into one. That was quite something else. 
Some small towns like Tagong seemed to be built FOR the monasteries around it instead the other way around. I together with my new friends Jesus and Sole from Argentina had a wonderful chat with the head of a Buddhist school in a Monastery in Litang. It was very inspiring to me. Although we were from very different cultures and speak in different languages, we showed a great deal of respect to each other and communicated in a super friendly atmosphere. The more I saw and heard about it, the more I was interested in Buddhism. Although Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism were from the same root and follow the same philosophy and principles, the way how Tibetans show their sincerity and dedication to it just make Tibetan Buddhism seem so much more “authentic”. The Tibetan monasteries were very quiet without hundreds of people yelling and burning incenses like most of the Chinese temples. They were for sincere Buddhists to pray and monks to study. They were holy. 
I felt very peaceful being in them. The monks were leading a very simple life style- study, follow the doctrine and seek for emancipation. Looking at the smiley faces of the monks also made me believe studying Buddhism could bring people inner peace. 
The road condition being horrible is also very “famous” for the Khampa area J Well, I was not disappointed about that at all! The roads we took through Danba, Tagong, Litang and Daocheng to Shangri-la were mostly in the mountains. They were most of the time very winding. Often we passed parts which were flooded or muddy or with serious landslides. I was more excited than being “scared” to be honest. Since tourism is getting more and more developed in these areas, villages started to get enough fund to repair the roads. In a few years, travelers who take the same route might not have the chance to experience the adventure and excitement sitting in the crowded minivan, gasping at some turns and thinking “OMG, I am going to die! I am going to die!” 
We arrived on Thursday and went with some people from the hotel to the site early next day. The site is on a hill about 30 min walk from the town. I have heard about it before but never knew how it actually was proceed. But there was no funeral when we arrived. So we just wandered around and waited hoping there would be one later. We saw about fifteen to twenty vultures staying on top of the hill. The grassland had patches on it where black soil was exposed and no grass grew on them. The soil seemed to be a bit “greasy”. Later we found out it was because the human body’s acid and grease contaminated the soil so nothing would grow on it. Vulture’s feathers could be seen everywhere as well. They must be fighting when eating the bodies. We were a bit disturbed when suddenly realized there were many small pieces of bones scattered on the ground. At the same time, we felt a bit puzzled when we saw some big rocks, knives and scissors lying there. Well, we found out what they were for later. A few Tibetan guys arrived with a Lama when we were still wandering around. They told us there wouldn’t be any funeral that day but they were going to have two the next day and we may come and watch then. The Lama was there to help them pick the spots. So we stayed and watched how it went. At first the Lama walked around and picked a spot. Then he sat down starting to pray for about 15 minutes. After that, the guys marked the spot with a thick stick they brought, and a little sticky barley cake with yak butter on in front of the stick. So, the next morning in the rain, all of us went there again. When we arrived, the first funeral was about to finish already. We were told it’s ok to watch but no photos. 
We were standing about 20 meters away from the spot. We couldn’t see it very well, but could tell the “Cutter” was smashing the bones on the rock with a hammer. I felt very odd to be there. I felt even with respect and distance, we were definitely interrupting the funeral. I didn’t feel I should stay any longer after the birds started eating the bones. Jesus and Sole felt the same way. So we left before the second burial started. We went to the monastery to see the monk’s debate. Abram and the rest of the group stayed and saw the whole thing. The body was laid down on the chest naked. The “Cutter” cut the body open in the back so the birds can easily get to the organs, then once the “Cutter” walked aside, about 20 birds immediately flew down and covered the body. Abram said they couldn’t see the body at all at that time but they could smell the strong smell from it. In a very short time maybe less than 10 minutes, the birds left the body which now was only a bloody skeleton. All flesh was gone! Then the “Cutter” went over and dragged the skeleton to the rock and started to smash it into very small pieces, then wrapped them with sticky barley cake. After that, the birds came again. Again, in about 10 minutes, most of the bones were gone! There were some bigger pieces left so the “Cutter” redid the smashing part again until the birds ate almost all of it. Some of the people who had watched the sky burial described that it made them feel that’s what our human bodies were at the end, just food to the birds and it didn’t mean that much to the nature. I suppose it is only natural that we return to the nature after we die. Our flesh and bones could still contribute to the birds this way. However, I’d rather to have a cremation instead of sky burial when I die. One thing occurred to us later that there were no women at the funerals. A British girl, Sole and I were the only women there. I wonder if it’s the tradition that women were not allowed to attend the funeral. 
In many ways Tibetan culture is fascinating to me, from what we can see from outside, such as the way they dress, their beautiful houses and their traditions to their internal world like their believe, religions and how they pursue the truth in their own way. I admire those people who live in a harsh environment, have limited supplies or so called luxuries in their lives, maybe are poor in money, but they are truly happy and rich in spirit. 
