As some of you know, I shall shortly be setting off on a little jig around China!
Feeling confident having more or less mastered the intricacies of the local lingo (well, I finished second in the Mandarin course after all - brave last words!) I shall be spending five weeks ambling between Beijing, Tibet, Shanghai, Guilin and Hong Kong! Incredibly excited about the prospect and raring to go this Sunday.
I shall write a more detailed first entry later - at the moment a bit bogged down trying to sort out packing and remembering all the last minute details :)
Hope everyone is well!
Cheers!
Robin
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Why China? - July 1, 2007
Why China? - July 1, 2007
A first quick message on the blog having sorted out all the packing and organisation! It's amazing how many little things there are to resolve ahead of a trip like this! I'm very excited about the prospect - it's taken a long time to organise and I can't wait to get going!
Some of you may be thinking "why China and why Chinese"?! Well, it all goes back to last summer when I woke up one morning to hear the BBC Radio 4 Today programme announce the opening of the final section of the Beijing - Tibet train line, describing this incredible feat of engineering travelling at nearly 5000m across the Tibetan plateau. Lying there I thought to myself - "that would be a trip and a half!" And there it might have ended, as a passing idea, if not for the fact that on the very same morning on the Brussels metro I happened to be stood next to a Chinese girl reading a Chinese text and I thought to myself - now that would be a challenge! And with that I decided that if I wanted to go to China and do the trip to Tibet I should look at learning some Mandarin (Tibetan is for next year!)....!
Fast forward one year and a completed first year of Mandarin - having somewhat bizarrely finished second in the class - and I'm ready to go! The plan is to spend the first five days in Beijing studying Mandarin. I have taken 20 classes of 1-2-1 tuition so it should allow me to polish up my skills before heading off. The classes will be in the morning, leaving enough time for all the sightseeing! On Friday I will join the tour from Beijing to Tibet - we will spend around 10 days travelling through the north of China, visiting among others Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors, the Yellow River and a variety of intriguing places along route! Hopefully there will be internet so I can update this! The final train to Tibet departs from Qinghai province one late afternoon and arrives 24 hours later in Lhasa - the trip through the Tibetan plateau should be superb, and then I'll spend 4 days or so in Lhasa visiting all the sites, before returning to Beijing!
From this point, I become an independent! The plan is to catch the night train from Beijing to Shanghai on July 22, spend four days there, before moving on to Guilin in the south to do a four day Cantonese cooking course in Yangshou! From there I'll catch another train to Shenzhen and Hong Kong, spending four days there before heading home on August 5!
I'm looking at the clock now and guess I should go! I hope you enjoy checking this blog from time to time and hopefully I shall be able to update fairly frequently!
All the best!
Rob
A first quick message on the blog having sorted out all the packing and organisation! It's amazing how many little things there are to resolve ahead of a trip like this! I'm very excited about the prospect - it's taken a long time to organise and I can't wait to get going!
Some of you may be thinking "why China and why Chinese"?! Well, it all goes back to last summer when I woke up one morning to hear the BBC Radio 4 Today programme announce the opening of the final section of the Beijing - Tibet train line, describing this incredible feat of engineering travelling at nearly 5000m across the Tibetan plateau. Lying there I thought to myself - "that would be a trip and a half!" And there it might have ended, as a passing idea, if not for the fact that on the very same morning on the Brussels metro I happened to be stood next to a Chinese girl reading a Chinese text and I thought to myself - now that would be a challenge! And with that I decided that if I wanted to go to China and do the trip to Tibet I should look at learning some Mandarin (Tibetan is for next year!)....!
Fast forward one year and a completed first year of Mandarin - having somewhat bizarrely finished second in the class - and I'm ready to go! The plan is to spend the first five days in Beijing studying Mandarin. I have taken 20 classes of 1-2-1 tuition so it should allow me to polish up my skills before heading off. The classes will be in the morning, leaving enough time for all the sightseeing! On Friday I will join the tour from Beijing to Tibet - we will spend around 10 days travelling through the north of China, visiting among others Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors, the Yellow River and a variety of intriguing places along route! Hopefully there will be internet so I can update this! The final train to Tibet departs from Qinghai province one late afternoon and arrives 24 hours later in Lhasa - the trip through the Tibetan plateau should be superb, and then I'll spend 4 days or so in Lhasa visiting all the sites, before returning to Beijing!
From this point, I become an independent! The plan is to catch the night train from Beijing to Shanghai on July 22, spend four days there, before moving on to Guilin in the south to do a four day Cantonese cooking course in Yangshou! From there I'll catch another train to Shenzhen and Hong Kong, spending four days there before heading home on August 5!
I'm looking at the clock now and guess I should go! I hope you enjoy checking this blog from time to time and hopefully I shall be able to update fairly frequently!
All the best!
Rob
Beijing - July 2 2007
Beijing - July 2 2007
Hurrah! I have just arrived, well to be truthful I arrived at 10h30 this morning but it took quite some time to clear customs and all the paper checking! The flight across was uneventful except for the fact that I nearly missed the connecting flight out of Heathrow due to the enhanced security checks - fortunately we were fast-tracked through to the plane - which in turn was delayed itself due to all the queues!
First impressions: it's hot and humid and very misty today - I'm wondering if this is more smog than mist, but the pilot insisted it was foggy. Actually, one of the weirder announcements I've ever heard on a plane - we were delayed landing because of "military manoeuvres"! Fantastic! But we evaded whatever was going on up there and touched down safely.
My first real experience of China - and the hapless nature of my Chinese came with the taxi into the city! It was all looking fairly straightforward as they have a series of people guiding you at the taxi ranks and after various "checks and discussions" I found myself setting off in a taxi with a chap with zero English! No problem I thought, what with my Chinese and the fact one of the "controllers" had explained the destination... More fool me :) He knew which district we were going to - Haidian - but that was about it! Led to 45 minutes driving around and eventually asking a combination of Chinese students (its near the university) and policemen the way to go! Comical - between my terrible Chinese and a multitude of blank faces I am astonished I got here!
But here I am, sitting in the school tapping this mail while I wait for someone to come and take me across to the residence! It's all looking good. I thought the classes were going to be in the morning but it turns out they might be in the afternoon - this is no bad thing given how it hot it is post midday! "IF" I get up early I can do a lot of my sightseeing early doors - and in any case the big sights I'll do as part of the tour from Friday!
What else I have noticed? What I have seen so far it looks like a big building sight - we drove past the Olympic stadium - it's very impressive. But the whole city, or the parts I saw from the highway at least as I say, looked like a construction site (for the Brussels folk - like Rond Point Schuman multiplied a million times over!). I hope to get settled in this afternoon and then get in contact with some of the people friends have kindly put me in touch with!
I had better conclude here as not sure when they are coming to whisk me away! Next instalment should be post jet-lag and therefore of a slightly clearer nature :).
Rob
Hurrah! I have just arrived, well to be truthful I arrived at 10h30 this morning but it took quite some time to clear customs and all the paper checking! The flight across was uneventful except for the fact that I nearly missed the connecting flight out of Heathrow due to the enhanced security checks - fortunately we were fast-tracked through to the plane - which in turn was delayed itself due to all the queues!
First impressions: it's hot and humid and very misty today - I'm wondering if this is more smog than mist, but the pilot insisted it was foggy. Actually, one of the weirder announcements I've ever heard on a plane - we were delayed landing because of "military manoeuvres"! Fantastic! But we evaded whatever was going on up there and touched down safely.
My first real experience of China - and the hapless nature of my Chinese came with the taxi into the city! It was all looking fairly straightforward as they have a series of people guiding you at the taxi ranks and after various "checks and discussions" I found myself setting off in a taxi with a chap with zero English! No problem I thought, what with my Chinese and the fact one of the "controllers" had explained the destination... More fool me :) He knew which district we were going to - Haidian - but that was about it! Led to 45 minutes driving around and eventually asking a combination of Chinese students (its near the university) and policemen the way to go! Comical - between my terrible Chinese and a multitude of blank faces I am astonished I got here!
But here I am, sitting in the school tapping this mail while I wait for someone to come and take me across to the residence! It's all looking good. I thought the classes were going to be in the morning but it turns out they might be in the afternoon - this is no bad thing given how it hot it is post midday! "IF" I get up early I can do a lot of my sightseeing early doors - and in any case the big sights I'll do as part of the tour from Friday!What else I have noticed? What I have seen so far it looks like a big building sight - we drove past the Olympic stadium - it's very impressive. But the whole city, or the parts I saw from the highway at least as I say, looked like a construction site (for the Brussels folk - like Rond Point Schuman multiplied a million times over!). I hope to get settled in this afternoon and then get in contact with some of the people friends have kindly put me in touch with!
I had better conclude here as not sure when they are coming to whisk me away! Next instalment should be post jet-lag and therefore of a slightly clearer nature :).
Rob
Beijing - July 4 2007
Beijing - July 4 2007
It's midday on my third day in Beijing and I am busy with the classes and trying to tackle this incredibly complicated language! The classes started yesterday - I have 20 classes over a four day period. I have one-to-one tuition which is good as it means I can structure what I would like to learn. I have asked my teacher to focus on the practicalities so in terms of booking trains, buying tickets, handling restaurants etc etc! Once I set off on the independent part of my travels I shall really need to be able to master this kind of vocabulary and the relevant phrases!
I am staying in a student residence not too far from the school, good accommodation and students from all over - from "Anglo-Saxons" to even French, German and Spanish! Feels just like Brussels - well apart from the Chinese!
I have had some particularly challenging moments with my Chinese already - it's amazing how difficult it is to communicate and understand even when you have the basics. But this does lead to some fun experiences too. For example, on Monday evening I found what turned out to be a Chinese fast-food restaurant for dinner - but unlike any fast-food I have seen before. The basic idea was that on arrival you chose your dish from hanging bamboo tickets with the names of dishes on them, which were then ordered from the kitchen for you. Having worked out the system, I began asking for the dishes I know in Chinese (not wide ranging on Monday evening I can tell you!) and took from the reaction of the waitress that they had run out of my selection! Gridlock ensued ... until a kindly Chinese chap got up and came over to enquire of me, in perfect English, what I wanted to eat! I have rarely been happier! Then, once settled with beef noodles (spicy), I had the surreal experience of watching the!
e locals watch a documentary about David Beckham - I nearly stood up and said "wo shi de Manchester" but thought better of it... :)
Yesterday morning before the classes started I decided to go and check out some of the sites in the city which I will not see as part of the tour. I wanted to go to the area north of the Imperial Palace where there are gardens and lakes. Well, getting there felt like crossing a country - Beijing is so big! We're in the northwest of the city and it took me 2 hours, mixture of walking, suburban trains and metro to get there, but in the end I did. It was a beautiful area to walk around, and I may try and go back at some stage.
Yesterday evening I met up for dinner with a Beijing local - Ma Yi. My colleague in Brussels, Bernadette, had met her in London when she was on a press visit and she took me for a traditional Chinese meal. It was excellent - noodles, beef, fruits and some bizarre sour stuff called duo zhi which I am told only old Beijingers can handle! Ma Yi seems to be encapsulating the entrepreneurial spirit that China is renowned for, having given up her job as a journalist to try and set herself up importing an American company's cosmetics into China!
This evening the school has organised a trip to a Peking Duck restaurant so we're raring to go off there - once another two hours of Chinese have been ticked off! It's nearly lunchtime too, but this time I am prepared: my teacher has recommended a fast-food place and a dish - fingers crossed they have it or it could be a difficult lunch!
More to come later :)
Rob
It's midday on my third day in Beijing and I am busy with the classes and trying to tackle this incredibly complicated language! The classes started yesterday - I have 20 classes over a four day period. I have one-to-one tuition which is good as it means I can structure what I would like to learn. I have asked my teacher to focus on the practicalities so in terms of booking trains, buying tickets, handling restaurants etc etc! Once I set off on the independent part of my travels I shall really need to be able to master this kind of vocabulary and the relevant phrases!
I am staying in a student residence not too far from the school, good accommodation and students from all over - from "Anglo-Saxons" to even French, German and Spanish! Feels just like Brussels - well apart from the Chinese!
I have had some particularly challenging moments with my Chinese already - it's amazing how difficult it is to communicate and understand even when you have the basics. But this does lead to some fun experiences too. For example, on Monday evening I found what turned out to be a Chinese fast-food restaurant for dinner - but unlike any fast-food I have seen before. The basic idea was that on arrival you chose your dish from hanging bamboo tickets with the names of dishes on them, which were then ordered from the kitchen for you. Having worked out the system, I began asking for the dishes I know in Chinese (not wide ranging on Monday evening I can tell you!) and took from the reaction of the waitress that they had run out of my selection! Gridlock ensued ... until a kindly Chinese chap got up and came over to enquire of me, in perfect English, what I wanted to eat! I have rarely been happier! Then, once settled with beef noodles (spicy), I had the surreal experience of watching the!
e locals watch a documentary about David Beckham - I nearly stood up and said "wo shi de Manchester" but thought better of it... :)
Yesterday morning before the classes started I decided to go and check out some of the sites in the city which I will not see as part of the tour. I wanted to go to the area north of the Imperial Palace where there are gardens and lakes. Well, getting there felt like crossing a country - Beijing is so big! We're in the northwest of the city and it took me 2 hours, mixture of walking, suburban trains and metro to get there, but in the end I did. It was a beautiful area to walk around, and I may try and go back at some stage.
Yesterday evening I met up for dinner with a Beijing local - Ma Yi. My colleague in Brussels, Bernadette, had met her in London when she was on a press visit and she took me for a traditional Chinese meal. It was excellent - noodles, beef, fruits and some bizarre sour stuff called duo zhi which I am told only old Beijingers can handle! Ma Yi seems to be encapsulating the entrepreneurial spirit that China is renowned for, having given up her job as a journalist to try and set herself up importing an American company's cosmetics into China!
This evening the school has organised a trip to a Peking Duck restaurant so we're raring to go off there - once another two hours of Chinese have been ticked off! It's nearly lunchtime too, but this time I am prepared: my teacher has recommended a fast-food place and a dish - fingers crossed they have it or it could be a difficult lunch!
More to come later :)
Rob
Beijing - July 6 2007
I can't believe how quickly time is passing - already nearly a week into my Chinese trip and I have finished the classes here in Beijing! It has been quite hectic, with, 20 classes between Tuesday lunchtime and today (Friday lunchtime). Excuse any lapses as I write, but my stomach is crying out for my favourite lunchtime portion of spicy pork and veggies at the local Chinese fast-food place! I have learnt a lot in the classes: an incredible amount of vocabulary to cover the range of situations I might find myself in over the next few weeks as well as practicing pronunciation! This remains one of the most challenging aspect - and I suspect will do for quite some time!
On Wednesday evening a group of us from the school went to have Peking Duck in a well-known restaurant! I don't recall having ever eaten Peking Duck in the past, but it was very good, and good fun watching the chef slice up the duck in front of us (apologies in advance to the veggies among you :)). Overall on the food front, I am gradually mastering the intricacies of the Beijing menu: following the recommendation from one of my teachers on Wednesday, I have made the local fast-food haunt my regular destination of choice since then. As predicted by many people, it also helps being English in these kind of environments as everyone wants to speak English with you - I normally have a rather bizarre discussion with the employees there, them speaking in English and me trying out my pigeon Chinese!
Yesterday evening I caught up with another Beijing contact (again courtesy of my work colleague Bernadette - thanks again!) Ben, who does PR at Hill and Knowlton Beijing. The phrase "isn't it a small world" came to mind when I turned up and met his colleague and a visiting representative from UK Trade and Investment based in Hong Kong, but up in Beijing scoping out extending their activities here. A enjoyable evening was spent drinking tsingtao and losing badly at a very competitive speed pool competition!
So, the first week closes and I am now looking forward to starting my trip to Tibet! I join the tour later this afternoon, and after spending the weekend here visiting the Great Wall, Forbidden City and taking in an opera, I'll be heading off to Xi'an and the terracotta warriors on Sunday evening - from there it's a mixture of train and car across the northern regions of China to Tibet! I'm very excited about the trip and also keen to see the contrasts with the big cities like Beijing and the rest of the country: I have seen and heard a lot of contradicting points about China already - perhaps Ben summed it up best when he said "one country many cultures"?
Lots to discover anyway and more to come soon :)
Rob
On Wednesday evening a group of us from the school went to have Peking Duck in a well-known restaurant! I don't recall having ever eaten Peking Duck in the past, but it was very good, and good fun watching the chef slice up the duck in front of us (apologies in advance to the veggies among you :)). Overall on the food front, I am gradually mastering the intricacies of the Beijing menu: following the recommendation from one of my teachers on Wednesday, I have made the local fast-food haunt my regular destination of choice since then. As predicted by many people, it also helps being English in these kind of environments as everyone wants to speak English with you - I normally have a rather bizarre discussion with the employees there, them speaking in English and me trying out my pigeon Chinese!
Yesterday evening I caught up with another Beijing contact (again courtesy of my work colleague Bernadette - thanks again!) Ben, who does PR at Hill and Knowlton Beijing. The phrase "isn't it a small world" came to mind when I turned up and met his colleague and a visiting representative from UK Trade and Investment based in Hong Kong, but up in Beijing scoping out extending their activities here. A enjoyable evening was spent drinking tsingtao and losing badly at a very competitive speed pool competition!
So, the first week closes and I am now looking forward to starting my trip to Tibet! I join the tour later this afternoon, and after spending the weekend here visiting the Great Wall, Forbidden City and taking in an opera, I'll be heading off to Xi'an and the terracotta warriors on Sunday evening - from there it's a mixture of train and car across the northern regions of China to Tibet! I'm very excited about the trip and also keen to see the contrasts with the big cities like Beijing and the rest of the country: I have seen and heard a lot of contradicting points about China already - perhaps Ben summed it up best when he said "one country many cultures"?
Lots to discover anyway and more to come soon :)
Rob
Beijing - July 7 2007
Beijing - July 7 2007
Still in Beijing, but joined up on the tour yesterday! So a change of scene if not a change of place yet! All going very well - despite the fact that I am sitting in one hell of a hot furnace internet cafe - it must be 40+ degrees in here, so be patient with any excessive digressions! It's the heat, honest, and not any Beijing pijiu (beer)! :)
I am the youngest person on the tour - the baby I guess you might say! I can see the influence of the grey (or silver?) pound / Euro/ USD on the travel industry! Saying that the people are all very nice, and come from a variety of places: UK, Italy, US and Australia (no French or Belgians, but you can't have everything!).
Today was the first big day on the tour and we went out to the Great Wall of China - it was fantastic! You can check all the facts and figures you would ever need to know about the wall, but the point I most appreciated was the one about how Genghis Khan merely bribed his way past the sentries on his way to Beijing! Corruption, it appears, is not a modern manifestation in China!
Anyway, back to the tour: we went to the Mutianyu section of the wall. This is not the most touristy part, but neither is it the most secluded. It wasn't so bad - once you had negotiated the million people selling water and junk at the bottom!
We climbed up in the scorching heat and humidity and then walked along the wall. It was truly a fantastic experience - and surprisingly not too busy! I may try and upload some photos from my camera for Colin to put on here if I can withstand the heat of this place - it's that hot in here! We're now back in Beijing and will be going to see some opera this evening which I am really looking forward to - and then following that up with Beijing duck: I've done this already, but when in Rome as they say!
Actually, on the when in Rome front, I have just had my first experience in a Chinese pharmacy! I have got some kind of ear infection so our Chinese local guide - Jason - took me down to get me sorted with some ear drops. I have never seen a chemist look so confused by a list of symptoms, but I came away with said drops and some Chinese medicine! Hurrah - I was diagnosed as being too "hot" - clearly the case, as some of you know! So I have been given traditional herbs - but in little balls to take! 50 twice a day though! Back at the hotel I tried to take some and got to 10 before I couldn't be bothered carrying on - they don't taste great either! Hopefully my ear will clear up before our ascent into the heavens...
On another "isn't the world a small place" theme - our tour leader, Sam, studied at Bradford University so we have been reminiscing about the joys of getting up to N Floor on the Richmond Building (apologies to those not part of the Bradford alumni!). Last night we also went to see an acrobatics show - it was very good, and some heart-stopping moments when I thought people were going to do themselves some serious "Achilles tendon" type injuries!
Tomorrow's plan is Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, Hutongs and Temple of Heaven, before we get on the overnight train to Xi'an at 9pm! Can't wait for the first train journey of the tour!
I'll update in the next couple of days!
Rob
Still in Beijing, but joined up on the tour yesterday! So a change of scene if not a change of place yet! All going very well - despite the fact that I am sitting in one hell of a hot furnace internet cafe - it must be 40+ degrees in here, so be patient with any excessive digressions! It's the heat, honest, and not any Beijing pijiu (beer)! :)
I am the youngest person on the tour - the baby I guess you might say! I can see the influence of the grey (or silver?) pound / Euro/ USD on the travel industry! Saying that the people are all very nice, and come from a variety of places: UK, Italy, US and Australia (no French or Belgians, but you can't have everything!).
Today was the first big day on the tour and we went out to the Great Wall of China - it was fantastic! You can check all the facts and figures you would ever need to know about the wall, but the point I most appreciated was the one about how Genghis Khan merely bribed his way past the sentries on his way to Beijing! Corruption, it appears, is not a modern manifestation in China!
Anyway, back to the tour: we went to the Mutianyu section of the wall. This is not the most touristy part, but neither is it the most secluded. It wasn't so bad - once you had negotiated the million people selling water and junk at the bottom!
We climbed up in the scorching heat and humidity and then walked along the wall. It was truly a fantastic experience - and surprisingly not too busy! I may try and upload some photos from my camera for Colin to put on here if I can withstand the heat of this place - it's that hot in here! We're now back in Beijing and will be going to see some opera this evening which I am really looking forward to - and then following that up with Beijing duck: I've done this already, but when in Rome as they say!Actually, on the when in Rome front, I have just had my first experience in a Chinese pharmacy! I have got some kind of ear infection so our Chinese local guide - Jason - took me down to get me sorted with some ear drops. I have never seen a chemist look so confused by a list of symptoms, but I came away with said drops and some Chinese medicine! Hurrah - I was diagnosed as being too "hot" - clearly the case, as some of you know! So I have been given traditional herbs - but in little balls to take! 50 twice a day though! Back at the hotel I tried to take some and got to 10 before I couldn't be bothered carrying on - they don't taste great either! Hopefully my ear will clear up before our ascent into the heavens...
On another "isn't the world a small place" theme - our tour leader, Sam, studied at Bradford University so we have been reminiscing about the joys of getting up to N Floor on the Richmond Building (apologies to those not part of the Bradford alumni!). Last night we also went to see an acrobatics show - it was very good, and some heart-stopping moments when I thought people were going to do themselves some serious "Achilles tendon" type injuries!
Tomorrow's plan is Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, Hutongs and Temple of Heaven, before we get on the overnight train to Xi'an at 9pm! Can't wait for the first train journey of the tour!
I'll update in the next couple of days!
Rob
Xi-an - July 9 2007
Xi-an - July 9 2007
Hedgehog hospitalisation: Well no, not quite, but the budding sub-editor in me got the better of me and decided to exaggerate a little the story... Well it is a blog after all I guess :) It turns out I have managed to get a dose of tonsilitus (I think on the plane) - yesterday morning in Beijing I felt terrible so the local Chinese guide took me to hospital to get some treatment. I was relatively quickly diagnosed and then presribed some Western treatment - even though I had been quite open to trying the various Chinese medicines dolled out to me by the chemist! Because we were travelling yesterday evening, the doctor decided that I should have the first dose by drip so I sat for 2 hours having the treatment. It was all very efficient - they had a row of comfy chairs and people came and went for a variety of drips. I watched them and they definitely watched me! A more amusing anecdote came at the start of the examination by the doctor. She asked me to sit in what closely resembled a dentists chair - imagine the anxiety rising in me (!) - and of course the chair was designed for the smaller "average" person here in China! Sam and Jason, the guides, were laughing at me as I struggled to sit in the chair, as the doctor turned round and demanded "what is your problem?" provoking my answer of "well you see, I think I'm too tall for your chair". Blank face and penny dropping on my side, I quickly recanted and explained all my symptoms :)
A little interlude from the story to give you an idea of the place I am. In Xi-An (more on this later), I am in a really cool internet cafe where they have single seat sofas in front of each PC station - this is the kind of set up I could do with at home! And I have just noticed they have headphones so I am trying to listen to BBC Radio 4 - interestingly they don't have the full spectrum of programmes on here, i.e. no Today programme or World at One. The Chinese have really got control of the internet I see. On the other hand, they appear to have left the Manchester Evening News to their own devices, at least when it comes to news on Man Utd...although they should learn and block news about Sven and City :)
Yesterday evening we took the first train of our journey from Beijing to Xi-An. This was everything and more than I expected it to be. The train station in Beijing is immense in size and scale - it looks more like an airport than a train station! The train we took was incredibly modern, we had soft couchettes - ruanwo - four to a cabin. It was great fun: you have a carriage attendant and a pot of hot water you can use for your cha and coffee, or in my case some disgusting pot noodles. It would appear pot noodles in any country are by definition crap :) Anyway, sleeping on the train was a wonderful experience as was watching the countryside slip by in the early morning fog (and this time, unlike Beijing, I am sure it was fog of the natural variety).
And so, we arrived in Xi-An. Some it has to be said, in less style than others. Waking up this morning I felt like my throat had been put through the ringer, so I took my daily dose of antibiotics before any consideration of food had even started to enter my head... 30 minutes later and I am decorating the rather pleasantly sculptured Xi-An platform flowers with some additional fertiliser. As a result of all my exertions I took the day off today, slept and wandered around a little. I plan to go out and check out some of the sights later this evening as I understand they look beautiful at nightime. Xi-An is the former imperial capital - "xi" means West - it is south west of Beijing. It is famous for the Terracotta Warriors, which, touch wood, I shall be seeing tomorrow morning. It is also famous for the story of the monk who goes to India with the monkey and the pig (have I got that right?!). It was on TV in the UK in the 70s and 80s - Monkey or something! I am not kidding you when I say this, but it is on Chinese TV everytime I turn it on!! (an update on the Chinese blocking of internet sources - they also block Judge Jules and his techno on Radio 1 - well I would never have expected that!).
So what else? Despite my illness, I did manage to get round Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City yesterday morning. As you would expect, the Square is indeed massive and somewhat overwhelming - especially when it feels like it is already 35+ plus with sticky humidity at 9am! Anyway, took all the right pictures, including of course, the one of the man himself ("Great Leader") and then checked out the Forbidden City.
This is a truly magnificent place and it is my to regret that I was not able to explore properly properly. I did see most of the big parts and then spent quite a lot of time in the Imperial Gardens watching the world going by. A rather bizarre experience happened when a father with what appeared to be his young daughter came over to me and gestured with a camera. Naturally thinking they wanted me to take a photo of them I was all ready to go, but no the chap wanted a photo with me! Well if you must... :)
I guess that is just about all :) Tomorrow evening we are moving on again, taking a night train, heading west edging closer to Tibet, or Xizang to give it its (Chinese) name.
More to follow at some stage :)
Rob
Hedgehog hospitalisation: Well no, not quite, but the budding sub-editor in me got the better of me and decided to exaggerate a little the story... Well it is a blog after all I guess :) It turns out I have managed to get a dose of tonsilitus (I think on the plane) - yesterday morning in Beijing I felt terrible so the local Chinese guide took me to hospital to get some treatment. I was relatively quickly diagnosed and then presribed some Western treatment - even though I had been quite open to trying the various Chinese medicines dolled out to me by the chemist! Because we were travelling yesterday evening, the doctor decided that I should have the first dose by drip so I sat for 2 hours having the treatment. It was all very efficient - they had a row of comfy chairs and people came and went for a variety of drips. I watched them and they definitely watched me! A more amusing anecdote came at the start of the examination by the doctor. She asked me to sit in what closely resembled a dentists chair - imagine the anxiety rising in me (!) - and of course the chair was designed for the smaller "average" person here in China! Sam and Jason, the guides, were laughing at me as I struggled to sit in the chair, as the doctor turned round and demanded "what is your problem?" provoking my answer of "well you see, I think I'm too tall for your chair". Blank face and penny dropping on my side, I quickly recanted and explained all my symptoms :)
A little interlude from the story to give you an idea of the place I am. In Xi-An (more on this later), I am in a really cool internet cafe where they have single seat sofas in front of each PC station - this is the kind of set up I could do with at home! And I have just noticed they have headphones so I am trying to listen to BBC Radio 4 - interestingly they don't have the full spectrum of programmes on here, i.e. no Today programme or World at One. The Chinese have really got control of the internet I see. On the other hand, they appear to have left the Manchester Evening News to their own devices, at least when it comes to news on Man Utd...although they should learn and block news about Sven and City :)
Yesterday evening we took the first train of our journey from Beijing to Xi-An. This was everything and more than I expected it to be. The train station in Beijing is immense in size and scale - it looks more like an airport than a train station! The train we took was incredibly modern, we had soft couchettes - ruanwo - four to a cabin. It was great fun: you have a carriage attendant and a pot of hot water you can use for your cha and coffee, or in my case some disgusting pot noodles. It would appear pot noodles in any country are by definition crap :) Anyway, sleeping on the train was a wonderful experience as was watching the countryside slip by in the early morning fog (and this time, unlike Beijing, I am sure it was fog of the natural variety).
And so, we arrived in Xi-An. Some it has to be said, in less style than others. Waking up this morning I felt like my throat had been put through the ringer, so I took my daily dose of antibiotics before any consideration of food had even started to enter my head... 30 minutes later and I am decorating the rather pleasantly sculptured Xi-An platform flowers with some additional fertiliser. As a result of all my exertions I took the day off today, slept and wandered around a little. I plan to go out and check out some of the sights later this evening as I understand they look beautiful at nightime. Xi-An is the former imperial capital - "xi" means West - it is south west of Beijing. It is famous for the Terracotta Warriors, which, touch wood, I shall be seeing tomorrow morning. It is also famous for the story of the monk who goes to India with the monkey and the pig (have I got that right?!). It was on TV in the UK in the 70s and 80s - Monkey or something! I am not kidding you when I say this, but it is on Chinese TV everytime I turn it on!! (an update on the Chinese blocking of internet sources - they also block Judge Jules and his techno on Radio 1 - well I would never have expected that!).
So what else? Despite my illness, I did manage to get round Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City yesterday morning. As you would expect, the Square is indeed massive and somewhat overwhelming - especially when it feels like it is already 35+ plus with sticky humidity at 9am! Anyway, took all the right pictures, including of course, the one of the man himself ("Great Leader") and then checked out the Forbidden City.
This is a truly magnificent place and it is my to regret that I was not able to explore properly properly. I did see most of the big parts and then spent quite a lot of time in the Imperial Gardens watching the world going by. A rather bizarre experience happened when a father with what appeared to be his young daughter came over to me and gestured with a camera. Naturally thinking they wanted me to take a photo of them I was all ready to go, but no the chap wanted a photo with me! Well if you must... :)
I guess that is just about all :) Tomorrow evening we are moving on again, taking a night train, heading west edging closer to Tibet, or Xizang to give it its (Chinese) name.
More to follow at some stage :)
Rob
Lanzhou - July 11 2007
Lanzhou - July 11 2007
Arrived here this morning from Xi-an having been well enough in the end to participate in Tuesday's activities. We went to see the Terracotta Warriors of Emperor Qin - the first Emperor of a united China, and quite a despot if the stories are to be believed.
The site is about an 1h30 outside Xi-an and we drove out there yesterday in the sweltering heat and humidity - 38 degrees plus! The warriors were uncovered in 1974 by three farmers digging a well in a field (indeed one of them was on hand to sign copies of a new book on the topic...) There are three main sites you visit where they have reassembled the warriors: shortly after Emperor Qin died there was a rebellion (unsurprisingly) and a lot of the site was sacked and burned. The detail of the sculpture work is very impressive and it was interesting to consider what else might lie under the green fields in the area!
The rest of the afternoon was free and I decided to pursue my "convalescence" in a park with a good book. Ah yes, the tonsillitis or whatever it is / was. It has really cleared up now, mainly due to the train journey we took yesterday evening from Xi-an to Lanzhou. The latter is at 1500m altitude and the journey led to a welcome release of the pressure in my right ear which had been sitting there since last Monday (i.e. 10 days ago!). I can not describe the relief of this event... :) As we are moving on tomorrow to Xiahe - "little Tibet" - at an altitude of 3300m I went to seek an additional medical opinion at the local hospital as to the likelihood or not of my ears coping with this - especially later in Tibet. No definitive answer, and a lack of faith on my side in the doctor's abilities: the latter wanted to do a blood test to diagnose a sore throat! But it should be ok.
Today has been a long, but excellent day. Having arrived by train at 7am, we followed the Yellow River along to a dam where we took speed boats up the river to a site of caves hosting Buddhist sculptors dating from 1600 years ago.
The sculptures range from the smallest pieces through to a vast Buddha housed in the wall of the cliff - an amazing site. The landscape was stunning as well and well worth the visit.
Equally stunning, but not necessarily in a positive way, was our driver's seeming intention to chance his arm at every hairpin bend undertaking some perilous overtaking! I've been told this is common practice in the mountains - lovely!
So tomorrow, early start as we drive westwards towards this little Tibet, stopping on our way in the Hui region - Muslim minorities in China - to see several mosques. The landscape should be stunning too and I am hoping the sky will be blue (not a common occurrence in China by my experience so far). This evening it has been raining - welcome too after the furnace of yesterday!
More to follow :)
Rob
Arrived here this morning from Xi-an having been well enough in the end to participate in Tuesday's activities. We went to see the Terracotta Warriors of Emperor Qin - the first Emperor of a united China, and quite a despot if the stories are to be believed.
The site is about an 1h30 outside Xi-an and we drove out there yesterday in the sweltering heat and humidity - 38 degrees plus! The warriors were uncovered in 1974 by three farmers digging a well in a field (indeed one of them was on hand to sign copies of a new book on the topic...) There are three main sites you visit where they have reassembled the warriors: shortly after Emperor Qin died there was a rebellion (unsurprisingly) and a lot of the site was sacked and burned. The detail of the sculpture work is very impressive and it was interesting to consider what else might lie under the green fields in the area!
The rest of the afternoon was free and I decided to pursue my "convalescence" in a park with a good book. Ah yes, the tonsillitis or whatever it is / was. It has really cleared up now, mainly due to the train journey we took yesterday evening from Xi-an to Lanzhou. The latter is at 1500m altitude and the journey led to a welcome release of the pressure in my right ear which had been sitting there since last Monday (i.e. 10 days ago!). I can not describe the relief of this event... :) As we are moving on tomorrow to Xiahe - "little Tibet" - at an altitude of 3300m I went to seek an additional medical opinion at the local hospital as to the likelihood or not of my ears coping with this - especially later in Tibet. No definitive answer, and a lack of faith on my side in the doctor's abilities: the latter wanted to do a blood test to diagnose a sore throat! But it should be ok.
Today has been a long, but excellent day. Having arrived by train at 7am, we followed the Yellow River along to a dam where we took speed boats up the river to a site of caves hosting Buddhist sculptors dating from 1600 years ago.
The sculptures range from the smallest pieces through to a vast Buddha housed in the wall of the cliff - an amazing site. The landscape was stunning as well and well worth the visit.
Equally stunning, but not necessarily in a positive way, was our driver's seeming intention to chance his arm at every hairpin bend undertaking some perilous overtaking! I've been told this is common practice in the mountains - lovely!So tomorrow, early start as we drive westwards towards this little Tibet, stopping on our way in the Hui region - Muslim minorities in China - to see several mosques. The landscape should be stunning too and I am hoping the sky will be blue (not a common occurrence in China by my experience so far). This evening it has been raining - welcome too after the furnace of yesterday!
More to follow :)
Rob
Xiahe - July 12 2007
Xiahe - July 12 2007
And here I am, well almost :) Words cannot describe the scenery and the landscapes around here - but since it is a blog I guess I have to give it a go in any case! We arrived here early this evening having driven all day from Lanzhou, but stopping off at various places along the way. 
Xiahe is famous for one thing and one thing only - the Monastery on the hill, the name of which temporally escapes me: ah have no fear, I have the itinerary in my pocket so I can sound well-informed for a change :) The Monastery is called Labrang and is one of the biggest Tibetan monasteries - monks come on pilgrimage from Tibet here, it must be that impressive. It used to be a lot bigger than it is now, but of course they ran into some "local difficulties" around 30/40 years ago. We'll be visiting tomorrow morning as well as going to walk through the grasslands. Should be an amazing day.
Today we drove, as I say, from Lanzhou to Xiahe. Essentially we passed through two minority areas, firstly the Dongxiang (Mongol) and secondly Hui (Muslim). This was a fascinating experience, to see the differences in the people, dress, customs etc. We stopped for lunch in the town of Linxia (on the silk road) and visited the mosque there.
It was a great experience. From there we drove, upwards and onwards as they say (well essentially just me on this trip) through the foothills (...) reaching our current altitude of 3300m. The scenery is incredible, you see the pictures but nothing ever prepares you for landscape like this. In the lower areas, the land is extremely fertile - all maze and hay - with the yellow and other rivers (all looking yellow) flowing ferociously through the valleys.
I am coping well with the altitude at the moment. No ear problems, no implosions or explosions so that’s all good! You do feel lighter though very odd; we went for dinner in this "global cuisine" cafe - you could have everything from Mexican, to English, to Chinese and to Tibetan - but an electricity cut limited our choices! I had burritos and English chips (I am not kidding you, the chips were just like in England - I suspect Tibet and I will get on like a house on fire!).
The electricity cut was not, as we first suspected, caused by the thunderstorm, but by the monks in the monastery (maybe using too strong a sound system, I'm not sure...) anyway it's back on now - I did not have to requisition a monk on a bike out the bike! :)
It's a lot colder too - but after 38 in Xi-an I ain't complaining! Ok have to dash through the wilds of Xiahe!
More to come,
Rob
And here I am, well almost :) Words cannot describe the scenery and the landscapes around here - but since it is a blog I guess I have to give it a go in any case! We arrived here early this evening having driven all day from Lanzhou, but stopping off at various places along the way. 
Xiahe is famous for one thing and one thing only - the Monastery on the hill, the name of which temporally escapes me: ah have no fear, I have the itinerary in my pocket so I can sound well-informed for a change :) The Monastery is called Labrang and is one of the biggest Tibetan monasteries - monks come on pilgrimage from Tibet here, it must be that impressive. It used to be a lot bigger than it is now, but of course they ran into some "local difficulties" around 30/40 years ago. We'll be visiting tomorrow morning as well as going to walk through the grasslands. Should be an amazing day.
Today we drove, as I say, from Lanzhou to Xiahe. Essentially we passed through two minority areas, firstly the Dongxiang (Mongol) and secondly Hui (Muslim). This was a fascinating experience, to see the differences in the people, dress, customs etc. We stopped for lunch in the town of Linxia (on the silk road) and visited the mosque there.
It was a great experience. From there we drove, upwards and onwards as they say (well essentially just me on this trip) through the foothills (...) reaching our current altitude of 3300m. The scenery is incredible, you see the pictures but nothing ever prepares you for landscape like this. In the lower areas, the land is extremely fertile - all maze and hay - with the yellow and other rivers (all looking yellow) flowing ferociously through the valleys.I am coping well with the altitude at the moment. No ear problems, no implosions or explosions so that’s all good! You do feel lighter though very odd; we went for dinner in this "global cuisine" cafe - you could have everything from Mexican, to English, to Chinese and to Tibetan - but an electricity cut limited our choices! I had burritos and English chips (I am not kidding you, the chips were just like in England - I suspect Tibet and I will get on like a house on fire!).
The electricity cut was not, as we first suspected, caused by the thunderstorm, but by the monks in the monastery (maybe using too strong a sound system, I'm not sure...) anyway it's back on now - I did not have to requisition a monk on a bike out the bike! :)It's a lot colder too - but after 38 in Xi-an I ain't complaining! Ok have to dash through the wilds of Xiahe!
More to come,
Rob
Xiahe - July 13 2007
A full day in Xiahe having arrived yesterday evening. As I said in the earlier entry, the town essentially revolves around the monastery - the Labrang.
There is only one main street in the town, running from East to West, we're staying at the western end, while the monastery is at the Eastern side. This morning we went to visit the monastery, beginning first of all with a little climb up the neighbouring hills to have a better view of it. It is very big and impressive, with the golden temples and pagodas shinning in the sun. We were chased half way up the hill by two very aged women beggars - clearly mountain air must be good for you, even if you are destitute!
The monks live in small houses below the monastery and we walked around there, taking in also the prayer wheels, and avoiding the pigs and piglets wandering through the streets!
We joined quite a large group to be shown round some of the main temples by one of the monks. His English was quite good, but he said he was recovering from an illness - I hoped for his sake he hadn't had the same ear problems as me!
The first temple we went into was the main prayer room, very big and very impressive - and also very dark! 
Our guide explained to us how the Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the Compassion Buddha and the Panchen Lama the reincarnation of the Longevity Buddha. We saw their Buddha statues and also that of the Maitreya - the future living Buddha. It was all very interesting, and it felt a privilege to be allowed into a living monastery - although some members of the group (not on our tour) still managed to abuse the hospitality by taking photos even when explicitly asked not to...!
We then took in lunch - trying out some Tibetan fare after our break yesterday evening. I had lamb with cumin - very spicy - and Tibetan tea. It was very odd tea, practically twigs in there - which would have been fine, except for the half a tonne of sugar: I'm not a big sweet fan so not for me... I understand a lot of Tibetan food is sweet.
After lunch we went out to the Sangke village and grasslands where the nomads live. Well, nomads in the sense of their culture, but they appear to have been settled down by the government. We went to visit a family who were very nice and served us yak tea. This was actually quite good, and if you were brave you could add yak butter - making it yak butter tea: I opted out as I had had the butter for breakfast - it's similar to blue cheese flavour and while this is fine on bread, the idea of it in tea was a no-no in my book :) Others tried, and appear to have survived...!
We spend the next couple of days travelling to Xining from where we will get the 25 hour train to Lhasa in Tibet on Monday evening. Along the way - over the weekend - we will be taking in more monasteries and enjoying the scale of the landscape in this area: I am bowled over by it already and we're not even on the Tibetan plateau!
Ok, that's all for now. I have to go back to my continuing challenge to buy a Chinese SIM card - you would not believe how difficult this has proved to be; but I have a tip-off so I am on the hunt :)
Rob
There is only one main street in the town, running from East to West, we're staying at the western end, while the monastery is at the Eastern side. This morning we went to visit the monastery, beginning first of all with a little climb up the neighbouring hills to have a better view of it. It is very big and impressive, with the golden temples and pagodas shinning in the sun. We were chased half way up the hill by two very aged women beggars - clearly mountain air must be good for you, even if you are destitute!
The monks live in small houses below the monastery and we walked around there, taking in also the prayer wheels, and avoiding the pigs and piglets wandering through the streets!
We joined quite a large group to be shown round some of the main temples by one of the monks. His English was quite good, but he said he was recovering from an illness - I hoped for his sake he hadn't had the same ear problems as me!
The first temple we went into was the main prayer room, very big and very impressive - and also very dark! 
Our guide explained to us how the Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the Compassion Buddha and the Panchen Lama the reincarnation of the Longevity Buddha. We saw their Buddha statues and also that of the Maitreya - the future living Buddha. It was all very interesting, and it felt a privilege to be allowed into a living monastery - although some members of the group (not on our tour) still managed to abuse the hospitality by taking photos even when explicitly asked not to...!We then took in lunch - trying out some Tibetan fare after our break yesterday evening. I had lamb with cumin - very spicy - and Tibetan tea. It was very odd tea, practically twigs in there - which would have been fine, except for the half a tonne of sugar: I'm not a big sweet fan so not for me... I understand a lot of Tibetan food is sweet.
After lunch we went out to the Sangke village and grasslands where the nomads live. Well, nomads in the sense of their culture, but they appear to have been settled down by the government. We went to visit a family who were very nice and served us yak tea. This was actually quite good, and if you were brave you could add yak butter - making it yak butter tea: I opted out as I had had the butter for breakfast - it's similar to blue cheese flavour and while this is fine on bread, the idea of it in tea was a no-no in my book :) Others tried, and appear to have survived...!
We spend the next couple of days travelling to Xining from where we will get the 25 hour train to Lhasa in Tibet on Monday evening. Along the way - over the weekend - we will be taking in more monasteries and enjoying the scale of the landscape in this area: I am bowled over by it already and we're not even on the Tibetan plateau!
Ok, that's all for now. I have to go back to my continuing challenge to buy a Chinese SIM card - you would not believe how difficult this has proved to be; but I have a tip-off so I am on the hunt :)
Rob
Tongren - July 14 2007
Moved on again, now I am in Tongren in the Qinghai province.
We have come north west from Xiahe, and have also descended by about 1000m - it's warmed up as a result; it was a bit chilly in Xiahe, especially in the evening. Anyway, what's been going on? Yesterday afternoon I spent a chaotic two hours trying to buy a Chinese mobile card - amazingly, after much discussion, photocopies of passports and the chap disappearing god knows where, I got one: should anyone feel the insatiable need to communicate it is 00 86 136 2931 5629. However, this might not last too long - the card cost 10 yuan, basically one Euro or 60p... the chap ensured me it would work in Tibet, Shanghai and Guilin so we'll see!
Today we left Xiahe for the drive across the Ganjia grasslands (pronounced Ganja...I'll let you make comments) and mountains to Tongren. The landscape was amazing a mixture of grasslands, striking mountains and gorges. We drove through this landscape in the morning stopping at various times. On one occasion we stopped to go and see some nomadic Tibetans who were in the process of sheep shearing! This was completely unplanned and was great fun as we walked among them and the poor sheep taking some shots.
The kids loved it and showed off their "sheep riding" skills - I'll not go into any further details. On the high plateau we also passed by some of the nomads tents - they have come down to the lower pastures for the summer. All quite amazing.
We then arrived in Tongren for lunchtime. Tongren is, according to my guide, a "lightly industrial town" but the main reason for our visit is the Monastery, the Long Wu.
This was fascinating, and our new local guide, Andy, did a great job in explaining more of the background of Buddhism to us. I'm now trying to remember some of the details... :) 
Top of the list is the fact that both the current Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are from this region - and it is the only area where you can see their pictures in the monasteries.
This is a real no-no in Tibet itself, or to give it its Chinese name - the "Tibetan Autonomous Region" or TAR. We're effectively in Tibet already, but... well you can consult the history. What else did I take from it? We saw two temples, one with the Maitreya, the future living Buddha (I mentioned this one in an earlier post - you donate money to her to ensure - hopefully - a better future reincarnation) and we also saw the Green Tara. This was interesting: theCompassion Buddha, of which the Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation, had 1000 arms and 1000 heads, to help him do good deeds. Seeing that even this was not enough, he got 21 taras - in effect, secondary compassion "envoys" to do good deeds on his behalf.
We also had the Sky Burial tradition explained to us. Turn away now if you happen to be of a weak disposition :) Essentially, this practice revolves round dissecting the body of a dead person and leaving it in the open for the vultures to eat. The idea being that the body is merely the vessel for the soul which will - hopefully - have gone skywards awaiting a better reincarnation. Andy explained the practice in some detail, including the fact that they leave smashing the skull open till last as the brains are the vultures favourite...! At this point, our brave tour leader Sam has left the building in disgust... :)
Tomorrow we head to Xining from where we will get the train to Lhasa on Monday, but in the meantime we will be checking out some monasteries along the way!
More to follow!
Rob
We have come north west from Xiahe, and have also descended by about 1000m - it's warmed up as a result; it was a bit chilly in Xiahe, especially in the evening. Anyway, what's been going on? Yesterday afternoon I spent a chaotic two hours trying to buy a Chinese mobile card - amazingly, after much discussion, photocopies of passports and the chap disappearing god knows where, I got one: should anyone feel the insatiable need to communicate it is 00 86 136 2931 5629. However, this might not last too long - the card cost 10 yuan, basically one Euro or 60p... the chap ensured me it would work in Tibet, Shanghai and Guilin so we'll see!
Today we left Xiahe for the drive across the Ganjia grasslands (pronounced Ganja...I'll let you make comments) and mountains to Tongren. The landscape was amazing a mixture of grasslands, striking mountains and gorges. We drove through this landscape in the morning stopping at various times. On one occasion we stopped to go and see some nomadic Tibetans who were in the process of sheep shearing! This was completely unplanned and was great fun as we walked among them and the poor sheep taking some shots.
The kids loved it and showed off their "sheep riding" skills - I'll not go into any further details. On the high plateau we also passed by some of the nomads tents - they have come down to the lower pastures for the summer. All quite amazing.
We then arrived in Tongren for lunchtime. Tongren is, according to my guide, a "lightly industrial town" but the main reason for our visit is the Monastery, the Long Wu.
This was fascinating, and our new local guide, Andy, did a great job in explaining more of the background of Buddhism to us. I'm now trying to remember some of the details... :) 
Top of the list is the fact that both the current Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are from this region - and it is the only area where you can see their pictures in the monasteries.
This is a real no-no in Tibet itself, or to give it its Chinese name - the "Tibetan Autonomous Region" or TAR. We're effectively in Tibet already, but... well you can consult the history. What else did I take from it? We saw two temples, one with the Maitreya, the future living Buddha (I mentioned this one in an earlier post - you donate money to her to ensure - hopefully - a better future reincarnation) and we also saw the Green Tara. This was interesting: theCompassion Buddha, of which the Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation, had 1000 arms and 1000 heads, to help him do good deeds. Seeing that even this was not enough, he got 21 taras - in effect, secondary compassion "envoys" to do good deeds on his behalf.We also had the Sky Burial tradition explained to us. Turn away now if you happen to be of a weak disposition :) Essentially, this practice revolves round dissecting the body of a dead person and leaving it in the open for the vultures to eat. The idea being that the body is merely the vessel for the soul which will - hopefully - have gone skywards awaiting a better reincarnation. Andy explained the practice in some detail, including the fact that they leave smashing the skull open till last as the brains are the vultures favourite...! At this point, our brave tour leader Sam has left the building in disgust... :)
Tomorrow we head to Xining from where we will get the train to Lhasa on Monday, but in the meantime we will be checking out some monasteries along the way!
More to follow!
Rob
Xining - July 15 2007
Another busy day of travelling and visiting places along the way. We left Tongren early this morning to go and visit yet another Monastery - this time the Wutan Si Monastery, just down the road from Tongren. 
Monasteries, I suspect, may be like churches and cathedrals in that once you have seen one you have seen them all! But this one did have an additional element of interest in that all the monks there have to be artists - producing Thanka paintings following the Regong tradition set up in the 16th century. It was quite interesting to learn about their techniques, but I was less interested in buying one - however they did serve us some lovely Tibetan tea (again with sticks, but easier to drink) and fantastic bread (with no smelly yak butter). Wins all round!
From there we drove towards Xining. Again the scenery was outstanding. I was hoping to upload some pictures to the blog today but Chinese IT and PCs have defeated both my efforts and those of the staff here!
Highlights included driving round a major dam of the Yellow River (3rd largest hydro-electric station in China), where the green glass waters of the lake contrasted starkly with the limestone mountains and deep dark blue sky.
It was a wonderful, truly inspiring landscape. We stopped for lunch in a Muslim community - the Sala (I think) and had some lovely lamb with spicy sauce - fantastic. Other highlights included stopping at the Blue Mountain Pass to engage in some Ban rituals (the Ban was the original shamanistic religion before Buddhism arrived) around the prayer flags. We flung bits of coloured paper in the area and engaged in ritualistic chanting and sacrificial practices :) Ok I exaggerate a little, but you get the picture.
Other highlights: a toilet stop with a hemp field next to the petrol station! Fantastic, lots of photos of the two women tending to the crops, looking at us with the look of "oh dear not some more dopey Europeans" :)
Arriving here in Xining, typical big Chinese city, we took in a Folk Museum which was ok, but sometimes you get burnt out by the info and I was happy to hit the hotel and take a break. Tonight we are having hot-pot which I think I have had before, and is basically where you cook your own food (they have gas canisters under the tables heating the water you boil the stuff in - nice and safe!). With my celebre cooking skills it could be an interesting evening!
So most dash :) Tomorrow is the day when I do the part of the trip that first spiked my interest in all things Chinese and China - the Xining to Lhasa (Tibet) train line: 26 hours, 5000m altitude! It's not the most PC journey I have ever taken - think political issues - but it should be one of the most inspiring. I can't wait. We board the train at 16h30 local time - around 10h30 EU time so think of me as you munch on pain au chocs or croissants or whatever :)
Next update on Tuesday - from Lhasa!!! Hurrah!
Rob
Monasteries, I suspect, may be like churches and cathedrals in that once you have seen one you have seen them all! But this one did have an additional element of interest in that all the monks there have to be artists - producing Thanka paintings following the Regong tradition set up in the 16th century. It was quite interesting to learn about their techniques, but I was less interested in buying one - however they did serve us some lovely Tibetan tea (again with sticks, but easier to drink) and fantastic bread (with no smelly yak butter). Wins all round!
From there we drove towards Xining. Again the scenery was outstanding. I was hoping to upload some pictures to the blog today but Chinese IT and PCs have defeated both my efforts and those of the staff here!
Highlights included driving round a major dam of the Yellow River (3rd largest hydro-electric station in China), where the green glass waters of the lake contrasted starkly with the limestone mountains and deep dark blue sky.
It was a wonderful, truly inspiring landscape. We stopped for lunch in a Muslim community - the Sala (I think) and had some lovely lamb with spicy sauce - fantastic. Other highlights included stopping at the Blue Mountain Pass to engage in some Ban rituals (the Ban was the original shamanistic religion before Buddhism arrived) around the prayer flags. We flung bits of coloured paper in the area and engaged in ritualistic chanting and sacrificial practices :) Ok I exaggerate a little, but you get the picture.
Other highlights: a toilet stop with a hemp field next to the petrol station! Fantastic, lots of photos of the two women tending to the crops, looking at us with the look of "oh dear not some more dopey Europeans" :)
Arriving here in Xining, typical big Chinese city, we took in a Folk Museum which was ok, but sometimes you get burnt out by the info and I was happy to hit the hotel and take a break. Tonight we are having hot-pot which I think I have had before, and is basically where you cook your own food (they have gas canisters under the tables heating the water you boil the stuff in - nice and safe!). With my celebre cooking skills it could be an interesting evening!
So most dash :) Tomorrow is the day when I do the part of the trip that first spiked my interest in all things Chinese and China - the Xining to Lhasa (Tibet) train line: 26 hours, 5000m altitude! It's not the most PC journey I have ever taken - think political issues - but it should be one of the most inspiring. I can't wait. We board the train at 16h30 local time - around 10h30 EU time so think of me as you munch on pain au chocs or croissants or whatever :)
Next update on Tuesday - from Lhasa!!! Hurrah!
Rob
Lhasa - July 17 2007
So here I am: after a superb 26 hour train journey I am sitting round the corner from the Jokhang Temple in an internet cafe trying to keep awake long enough to tap out a few lines on the blog! Before we left Xining yesterday afternoon, we went to see the Kun Bam monastery (not sure on the spelling here, forgive me it's late).
This was the monastery set up by Tsongkapa, the founder of the Yellow Hat Sect in Buddhism. The story goes that the original sect - the Red Hats - were not really living up to the Buddhist ideal in Tsongkapa's eyes, taking drugs, women and generally getting up to no good. The Yellow Hats I guess are the " fundamental branch" (bingo - there goes my blog access in the TAR...). Anyway, so this place was his monastery. To be honest with you all, I did not enjoy it as much as the Labrang monastery in Xiahe as it was very busy - I know I am a tourist after all, but there is only so much pushing and shoving you can do to see a Buddha! After that we came back to!
Xining and checked out the local Mosque - I mentioned earlier the whole region has numerous minorities, and this mosque was on the big side. There was a picture from the last Ramadam - around 130,000 people out the front: chaos it looked like!
And then, after a trip to the local supermarket for provisions (and an impromptu game of snooker on the street - I kid you not, there is a photo of me nearly potting something) we hit the train station for the train to Tibet. Well, where do you start: it was superb - everything and more that I expected it to be! I was like a little kid on the platform when the train came, totally carried away! Once on the train, I got stuck into international diplomacy with the Chinese in our carriage, having an extensive conversation about where they were from and where they were going - stupid question - until I realised it was the extent of my Chinese! Silence ensued... :)
So, what do you do on a train for 26 hours.... you find the restaurant bar, stupid! I had bought provisions, but let's face it - hard bread and crappy industrial cheese was going to be no match for the delights on offer in the restaurant car.
And so it was, I was ensconced there with our tour leader and some members of the tour for the better part of the evening, drinking and sampling the delights of Chinese rail food fare. I can tell you, it was not like BR fare (English railways, my foreign readers - well until privatisation, but that's another story...). We had a great set of waiters, one of them was called - wait for it - Pigeon!
We all managed, I don't know how, not to laugh when he told us, but Pigeon was the top man on the restaurant car - going to the extent of holding table reservations for us and making the Chinese and Japanese wait! Class. We tipped well for this, even though he initially refused. Seemingly, he got the habit this lunchtime as he took 150 for a 100 bill and disappeared! Good lad.
So, what else. Well the views, the views of course. It was fantastic, you are on a plateau with mountains either side. We reached the highest point - the Tulanga (need to check again) pass at around 10am this morning: 5072m to be exact. I was chatting to a Hong Kong family as I recharged my mobile at the time... such trivial things at times like those.
A pleasant afternoon was spent in the restaurant car, having the same we had the night before, drinking beer and playing cards. And then we arrived.
Lhasa. We are staying right next to the Jokhang Temple, but the hotel is a bit dodgy - the room I am sharing smells like there is either a mouldy sock under one of the beds or something has died 5 times over :) Lovely. But hotels ain't what I came for, let's face it.
Having said that Lhasa seems to excel on the smell front, lots of yak butter and infrequent shower users - be they "extreme" tourist trekkers or monks - take your pick!! It's very touristy - lots of tacky shops all around the temples - and I committed major faux-pas walking anti-clockwise around the temple looking for the bank - lots of bad karma for me then :)
Ok, so now it is late and all the other sensible people on tour are in bed, so I should go too. Three days in Lhasa now, before returning to Beijing on Saturday and picking up the second part of my travels, the scary bit I have to organise by myself ;) And already some changes, of which more later.
Bye for now
Rob
This was the monastery set up by Tsongkapa, the founder of the Yellow Hat Sect in Buddhism. The story goes that the original sect - the Red Hats - were not really living up to the Buddhist ideal in Tsongkapa's eyes, taking drugs, women and generally getting up to no good. The Yellow Hats I guess are the " fundamental branch" (bingo - there goes my blog access in the TAR...). Anyway, so this place was his monastery. To be honest with you all, I did not enjoy it as much as the Labrang monastery in Xiahe as it was very busy - I know I am a tourist after all, but there is only so much pushing and shoving you can do to see a Buddha! After that we came back to!
Xining and checked out the local Mosque - I mentioned earlier the whole region has numerous minorities, and this mosque was on the big side. There was a picture from the last Ramadam - around 130,000 people out the front: chaos it looked like!
And then, after a trip to the local supermarket for provisions (and an impromptu game of snooker on the street - I kid you not, there is a photo of me nearly potting something) we hit the train station for the train to Tibet. Well, where do you start: it was superb - everything and more that I expected it to be! I was like a little kid on the platform when the train came, totally carried away! Once on the train, I got stuck into international diplomacy with the Chinese in our carriage, having an extensive conversation about where they were from and where they were going - stupid question - until I realised it was the extent of my Chinese! Silence ensued... :)
So, what do you do on a train for 26 hours.... you find the restaurant bar, stupid! I had bought provisions, but let's face it - hard bread and crappy industrial cheese was going to be no match for the delights on offer in the restaurant car.
And so it was, I was ensconced there with our tour leader and some members of the tour for the better part of the evening, drinking and sampling the delights of Chinese rail food fare. I can tell you, it was not like BR fare (English railways, my foreign readers - well until privatisation, but that's another story...). We had a great set of waiters, one of them was called - wait for it - Pigeon!
We all managed, I don't know how, not to laugh when he told us, but Pigeon was the top man on the restaurant car - going to the extent of holding table reservations for us and making the Chinese and Japanese wait! Class. We tipped well for this, even though he initially refused. Seemingly, he got the habit this lunchtime as he took 150 for a 100 bill and disappeared! Good lad.
So, what else. Well the views, the views of course. It was fantastic, you are on a plateau with mountains either side. We reached the highest point - the Tulanga (need to check again) pass at around 10am this morning: 5072m to be exact. I was chatting to a Hong Kong family as I recharged my mobile at the time... such trivial things at times like those.
A pleasant afternoon was spent in the restaurant car, having the same we had the night before, drinking beer and playing cards. And then we arrived.
Lhasa. We are staying right next to the Jokhang Temple, but the hotel is a bit dodgy - the room I am sharing smells like there is either a mouldy sock under one of the beds or something has died 5 times over :) Lovely. But hotels ain't what I came for, let's face it.
Having said that Lhasa seems to excel on the smell front, lots of yak butter and infrequent shower users - be they "extreme" tourist trekkers or monks - take your pick!! It's very touristy - lots of tacky shops all around the temples - and I committed major faux-pas walking anti-clockwise around the temple looking for the bank - lots of bad karma for me then :)
Ok, so now it is late and all the other sensible people on tour are in bed, so I should go too. Three days in Lhasa now, before returning to Beijing on Saturday and picking up the second part of my travels, the scary bit I have to organise by myself ;) And already some changes, of which more later.
Bye for now
Rob
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