Dear Friends and Fam,
Tashi Dela from Shigaste, Tibet! I left off in Lhasa so that's where I'll continue until our bumpy arrival here in Shigaste.
I wanna first start off by saying that Lhasa is an incredibly politcal point in China and the Chinese continue to supress these people in ways you wouldn't believe and because of this tension the Chinese Gov. bugs and has cameras everywhere and they also monitor tourist internet activity so I can't say much unfortunately. Remind me to tell you about ways they keep the Tibetans in line and what happened to 60 Tibetans about 6 months ago and what happened to two Tibetans last week...
Our last full day in Lhasa we visited the school for blind children called ''Brails Without Borders," which was an incredible experience. The school was set up by a heroic lady from Germany who was blind as well. It is the second school we have visited in Tibet and from what our guide tells us it is incredibly challenging to set up schools here because of the Chinese Government and their legal hurdles. The blind teacher who showed us around the school was incredibly humorous telling us stories of when he goes to buy groceries and the people who treat him as a stupid person and not a blind person. You have to be careful with people with dissabilities because they're just as human and intelligent as you and me but you also have to not be affraid to offer them a hand across the street. The kids at the school were all extremely happy to be around their best buds and the facilities were shockingly really good. When our guide showed us how he uses the internet without using brail I was completely blown away as he could get on the net and surf faster than I could! Their memory and sense of hearing is incredible and so vast superior to us with sight it's inreal! I'll never forget standing outside and one of the kids said he was going to be the next Eric Clapton and so his friends told him to sing a song. He sang "Tears in Heaven" and it was a good thing I had my shades on because I definately shed a couple tears as his voice was incredible.
That night we decided to leave Lhasa with a bang so we got together at our local pub, had some drinks and set off for a nungma, or Tibetan club as we would refer to it later, not like anything I've ever seen! After leaving the pub we got on a pedler cart and headed for the nungma. Arriving there we were stunned as it had been shut down apparently and after talking to a couple Chinese girls around who knew of another spot we had them sit on our laps and took off. Not going to lie, we were a little pissed (drunk) so Jay decided it was a good idea to give our bike pedler a break and he took over, probably one of the funnier things I've ever seen, got a great picture of it! Jay, I, our two auzzie adopted mums and the two chinese girls walked into this place and about 500 people all stared at us as of course we were the only white people! They immediately greated us and took us to the rear of where the front stage was and brought us drinks. The custom at these places is to drink beer our of shot glasses after you cheers by saying "Shepta!" After our first cheers about 6 Tibetan girls came and joined our table as people continued to look back, take pictures, and smile and wave. After some shots of beer we went up on stage and danced to the singers who were performing and had a blast! I've never felt like a celebrity as much as I have at this place, truly a awesome night!
The next day we paid for it as we got into our Toyota Land Cruisers and headed off on the bumpy dirt roads of Tibet. Our drive to Samye was about 6 hours with some incredible scenery of course! We saw the landscape change once again and this time to a more deserty climate with lots of sand dunes and barron land scape. Arriving in Samye where there was just the massive monestary we unpacked and rested in the guesthouse. I walked around the Cora of the monestary by myself and took some great photos of monks feeding some Yaks and of the surrounding Stupas or temples. Jay and I found a goat wondering around inside the monestary so Jay played some cat and mouse with the goat and lasted for about 10 minutes until the goat nimped him on the leg and he gave up! Not sure which one was the cat and the mouse but it was hilarious.
The next day we traveled to Ghiantse with yet more unreal scenary which I simply can't describe without showing pictures, although I will say we found a river with about a thousand ducks and I felt at home! Along the drive we stopped at a river where there were huge wheels turning from the water pressure that were shoving a peice of wood onto concrete in order to create incents, pretty cool I must say, really traditional old way of doing things. I'll never forget our next stop along the way to Ghiantse as we stopped along the side of the road and talked with a mom and her prosterating son walking along the road. The son and mother have been on this journey towards Shigatsi for one year and one day!!! Prosterating to give you an appreciation of these incredibly devoted people is one you stand straigh up, bow to the heavens, fall to your hands and chest and touch your head to the ground with your hands above your head bowing to the heavens, and then get up and walk two steps and repeat the same motion all while humming prayers! Truly an amazing show of devotion as they were traveling for their families good health as someone had fallen ill.
Arriving in Ghiantse after a 10 hour drive I have been having an upset stomach so I took the night off from dinner and doing anything to rest. Today we woke up in Ghiantse and walked to the top of the fort at the center of the city, which was erected in the 14th century sometime but no exact dates. A cool story about the enourmous fort was that early in the 19th century the Tibetans held off the British army who were armed with machine gun riffles and cannons for almost three months. The Tibetans after after their gun supply destroyed by a British cannon used rocks and arrows to continue to hold off the British before the British took over the fort. Much like the Japanese Samarai, the Tibetans rather than surrendering wanted to die honorribly so they jumped off the castle walls.
We arrived in Shigatse today and will be going through the monestary tomorrow which is supposed to be one of the three holliest in Tibet and also where the Punchen Lhama seats, he is considered at the status as the Dhali Llama and there's a great story about the current Llama but I can't discuss it at the moment, you can guess why. Anyway I am off and won't be in any form of contact for at least five days as we are heading to Everest and stopping along the way and after in some pretty small villages without technology so cross your fingers that I'll be able to have a clear visible day and see the highest point in the entire world, Mt. Everest!
Shepta,
Grant
Friday, September 28, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Walking with the pilgrims...
Dear Family and Friends,
We've reached the holiest city in Tibet, Lhasa! We've traveled from our homestay about 15 hours by bus with stops in between and then a two hour flight from Chengdu, but lets start from the begginning...
The homestay was brilliant. We stopped in our guide Jamyung's town to pick up some food for our host family to cook us and we also picked up a famous local musican from the village that our guide was friends with. Arriving at our homestay we were greeted by the grandaughter and grandmother with open arms and hugs. The little cottage was situated in the middle of the grasslands about a hundred yards from the white river. The landscape was so beautiful and I walked down to the river as soon as we got there and just laid on my back and staired at the blue sky reflecting on our journey thus far and pinching myself occationally to fully take in where I was sitting. Before our dinner we sat in the family room, one of two rooms in our cottage, while the local Tibetan musicain sang and played traditional songs. Everyone's eyes where closed and bodies perched against the wall as his music completely put everyone in an incredible trance of tranquility. After our dinner we talked story and all cuddled in our blankets for warmth as we fell asleep in the middle of the Tibetan grasslands in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
The next day we got back on our trusty bus and headed for a little hotel between our homestay and Chengdu. The drive was one not to forget as the landscape turned from vast grasslands and hills with thousands of animals to a narrow road tucked between massive mountains and beautiful tall trees. Arriving at our hotel alongside a flowing rapid river we drove up to a lamb being slaughtered in the front of the hotel. Our guide told us this was probably for a tourist group coming from Chendgu and staying in the hotel, and it turned out to be. After eating dinner in the hotel restaurant I walked out to the bar to get more beer for everyone when I was stopped by some of the Chinese who wanted me to take a shot of their local liquor. Never saying no to free booze I of course accepted and drank about 3 shots in a tall glass of this discusting rice liquor. Walking back to our dinner table I became apparently drunk as everyone laughed at me and decided it was a good idea to join me! After everyone finished our shots and dinner Jay and I decided to hang out with the Chinese tourist group outside the hotel where they were roasting a lamb over a fire and all drinking and dancing. We were seriously like international superstars as everyone brought us drinks and wanted pictures with us, it was unforgatable. The next day we woke up at 5:00am to get on our 5 hour bus to Chengdu, oh was that fun!
The bus ride to Chengdu will forever remain in my eyes as we saw a beautiful lanscape transferced into the insanely massive construction of multiple hydroelectric dams being built and man made landsides creating numerous rock quorries. It was so heart breaking to see the bastard Chinese government demolish Tibetan homes along the way and the hillsides eroded by construction of massive bridges, roads and damns.
Chengdu is the high tec, silicon valley if you may, of China and was a pretty cool city of only 11 million! Since we went down in altitude it was nice to finally be able to breath again, but breathing in smog isn't pleasant either. We walked mainly in the hip village alley ways with shops, bars and plenty of good food. Jay and I drank with our tour group that night and it was awesome to see the older people drinking and singing songs with some of the other older locals, there's something about booze that brings people together but I can't quite put my finger on it yet, haha. After our group left Jay and I hit on some local Chinese girls and struck out again and again because of the whole language barrier thing, who would have thought? We got frusterated so decided to get revenge in our own way, by walking the entire way home with our butt cracks showing! If you see any pictures of our cracks on the internet I'm sorry mom!
Our 2 hour flight to Lhasa was beautiful as you could gaze out the window at the towering Himalayas. Our first day in Lhasa was to re-adjust to the altitude and relax which is exactly what we did! The second day we ventured through the square finally found in ATM which was totally gratifying since I had been borrowing money from Jay for like 3 days. Walking with the pilgrims around the holliest temple, johkang temple, in Lhasa is a truly breath taking experience that everyone should try and see one time in their short lives. I sat today in the square and tried to some it up in a poem or something resembling that so enjoy...
Walking with the pilgrims,
clockwise ensured good karma,
prayer wheels turn,
hums of praise echo,
vibrant colors ignite,
devotion bows to Buddha,
arroma of incents flows free,
children smile with "hellos,"
stares of wonder exchange,
such peace and spirituality,
mountains privide sanctuary,
for a people lost in time...
Shepta,
Grant
We've reached the holiest city in Tibet, Lhasa! We've traveled from our homestay about 15 hours by bus with stops in between and then a two hour flight from Chengdu, but lets start from the begginning...
The homestay was brilliant. We stopped in our guide Jamyung's town to pick up some food for our host family to cook us and we also picked up a famous local musican from the village that our guide was friends with. Arriving at our homestay we were greeted by the grandaughter and grandmother with open arms and hugs. The little cottage was situated in the middle of the grasslands about a hundred yards from the white river. The landscape was so beautiful and I walked down to the river as soon as we got there and just laid on my back and staired at the blue sky reflecting on our journey thus far and pinching myself occationally to fully take in where I was sitting. Before our dinner we sat in the family room, one of two rooms in our cottage, while the local Tibetan musicain sang and played traditional songs. Everyone's eyes where closed and bodies perched against the wall as his music completely put everyone in an incredible trance of tranquility. After our dinner we talked story and all cuddled in our blankets for warmth as we fell asleep in the middle of the Tibetan grasslands in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
The next day we got back on our trusty bus and headed for a little hotel between our homestay and Chengdu. The drive was one not to forget as the landscape turned from vast grasslands and hills with thousands of animals to a narrow road tucked between massive mountains and beautiful tall trees. Arriving at our hotel alongside a flowing rapid river we drove up to a lamb being slaughtered in the front of the hotel. Our guide told us this was probably for a tourist group coming from Chendgu and staying in the hotel, and it turned out to be. After eating dinner in the hotel restaurant I walked out to the bar to get more beer for everyone when I was stopped by some of the Chinese who wanted me to take a shot of their local liquor. Never saying no to free booze I of course accepted and drank about 3 shots in a tall glass of this discusting rice liquor. Walking back to our dinner table I became apparently drunk as everyone laughed at me and decided it was a good idea to join me! After everyone finished our shots and dinner Jay and I decided to hang out with the Chinese tourist group outside the hotel where they were roasting a lamb over a fire and all drinking and dancing. We were seriously like international superstars as everyone brought us drinks and wanted pictures with us, it was unforgatable. The next day we woke up at 5:00am to get on our 5 hour bus to Chengdu, oh was that fun!
The bus ride to Chengdu will forever remain in my eyes as we saw a beautiful lanscape transferced into the insanely massive construction of multiple hydroelectric dams being built and man made landsides creating numerous rock quorries. It was so heart breaking to see the bastard Chinese government demolish Tibetan homes along the way and the hillsides eroded by construction of massive bridges, roads and damns.
Chengdu is the high tec, silicon valley if you may, of China and was a pretty cool city of only 11 million! Since we went down in altitude it was nice to finally be able to breath again, but breathing in smog isn't pleasant either. We walked mainly in the hip village alley ways with shops, bars and plenty of good food. Jay and I drank with our tour group that night and it was awesome to see the older people drinking and singing songs with some of the other older locals, there's something about booze that brings people together but I can't quite put my finger on it yet, haha. After our group left Jay and I hit on some local Chinese girls and struck out again and again because of the whole language barrier thing, who would have thought? We got frusterated so decided to get revenge in our own way, by walking the entire way home with our butt cracks showing! If you see any pictures of our cracks on the internet I'm sorry mom!
Our 2 hour flight to Lhasa was beautiful as you could gaze out the window at the towering Himalayas. Our first day in Lhasa was to re-adjust to the altitude and relax which is exactly what we did! The second day we ventured through the square finally found in ATM which was totally gratifying since I had been borrowing money from Jay for like 3 days. Walking with the pilgrims around the holliest temple, johkang temple, in Lhasa is a truly breath taking experience that everyone should try and see one time in their short lives. I sat today in the square and tried to some it up in a poem or something resembling that so enjoy...
Walking with the pilgrims,
clockwise ensured good karma,
prayer wheels turn,
hums of praise echo,
vibrant colors ignite,
devotion bows to Buddha,
arroma of incents flows free,
children smile with "hellos,"
stares of wonder exchange,
such peace and spirituality,
mountains privide sanctuary,
for a people lost in time...
Shepta,
Grant
Monday, September 17, 2007
Fresh air at last... Tibet
Dear Family and Friends,
Leaving Xi'an we had a 5 hour bus ride to Xiahe and the Labrang Monestary. We got our same bus back after apparently they replaced the oil filter and it was all fixed properly, which turned out to be untrue at about the 4th hour of driving when yet again we found ourself broke down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere on the border of Tibet. After flushing out the system and tighting a couple bolts we were back on track with our deisel beast of a bus, what a piece of crap!
Arriving at Xiahe we all were relieved to finally breath fresh air and to be out of the hustle and bustle of what the big China cities produce. We were about 9,500 ft. in elevation in the hills and you knew it when you stepped off the bus and walked up to the stairs to our hotel, I could barely breath! Our hotel was brilliant with streamers hanging down from the ceiling and prayer flags surrounding the inside. After a quick rest from a relentless bus ride we took a walk around the Labrang Monestary and walked along other Tibetan's as we pushed the hundreds of prayer wheels and truly felt what it is to be Tibetan, a devotion to self, faith and nature. As we walked clockwise for good karma and pushed the many prayer wheels we walked along goats, pigs and yaks just meandering around with no fear of humans, it was awesome! The next morning Jay and I hiked to the top of the hill and saw a farmer hearding his yak, they throw stones at them, and also saw a wolf in the hills. Walking through the town back to our hotel it's truly amazing to catch the eyes of a Tibetan and smile and see their face light up with excitement and smile right back, their faces will always remain with me. We hooked up with our guide for the next 8 days, Jamyung and our guide Blair and took a tour of the monestary. Walking in the prayer halls you're truly takin off your feet as you watch hundreds of monks in meditation. You truly feel as if you're taking back in time to a lost world tucked deep in the hills of the Himilayas.
Hopping back on the bus we had another 5 hour drive to Langmusi, a smaller village that has one road and sits amongst an absolute amazing backdrop of vertical mountains, rolling green hills, an incredible valley and desert like rock formations with scattered fur like trees. It almost reminds me of bits and parts of Oregon put together. Yesterday we visited a beautiful monestary and hiked to Tigers Cave. Tigers cave was one of the most sureal places I've seen in my life. The story goes that the last remaining Tiger and her cubs in Tibet lived in these caves and were lost in the early 90's most likely by the Chinese Government, those bastards! There were prayer flags streaming across the valled leading into the mountains and hills beyond. We ventured into one of the caves and our guide told us about a rock inside the cave that Tibetans traveled from miles away to see. It is a cure rock that if rubbed on your skin will heal you. I've had a minor migrain because of the altitude so I rubbed my forhead on the rock, and I haven't had any pain since. We hiked up the valled and up the hillside to the top rock that overlooked the city and wow was it tough with the elevation. Reaching the top made it all worth the while as I sat on a rock with a prayer flag waving behind me as I overlooked the beautiful city if Langmusi tucked away in the valley and left to it's peace only to be disturbed by the rare tourist traveling through. We ate dinner last night at this local dive spot and had Yak burgers and oh my god were they huge and delicious and just what the doctor ordered! Yak by the way is the Tibetan bull.
Today we woke up cold again but to another beautifully rare Tibetin sunny day filled with blue sky and no clouds! We hiked up the opposite hillside to a monestary and to a hill that overlooked the hill off the sky burriels where the Tibetan people leave their loved ones dead bodies for the vultures. Their belief is that the vultures consume their bodies and take them to the heavens, beautiful. Also, at the top of the hill is a stack of arrows and weapons that the Tibetans have sacrifised to the mountain gods to protect them. I had no idea that the Tibetans used to be the fearcest warriors in the world at one point before Buddhism was introduced from India. I don't have much more time so I have to get going, our group is having an amazing time and if you didn't know it you'd guess we all were on some sort of family reunion! We've got more places to stay in Australia and just got word that my Tazzie buddy will be back in Tasmania so we are heading there as well! Words truly can't describe the amazing sense of peacefullness this place inbelishes and releases to those who open their eyes and I can't wait for our next stop... Off to the Tibetan grasslands to stay with a nomadic Tibetan family in their tents, I plan on feeding some Yak too!
Gambai,
Grant
Leaving Xi'an we had a 5 hour bus ride to Xiahe and the Labrang Monestary. We got our same bus back after apparently they replaced the oil filter and it was all fixed properly, which turned out to be untrue at about the 4th hour of driving when yet again we found ourself broke down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere on the border of Tibet. After flushing out the system and tighting a couple bolts we were back on track with our deisel beast of a bus, what a piece of crap!
Arriving at Xiahe we all were relieved to finally breath fresh air and to be out of the hustle and bustle of what the big China cities produce. We were about 9,500 ft. in elevation in the hills and you knew it when you stepped off the bus and walked up to the stairs to our hotel, I could barely breath! Our hotel was brilliant with streamers hanging down from the ceiling and prayer flags surrounding the inside. After a quick rest from a relentless bus ride we took a walk around the Labrang Monestary and walked along other Tibetan's as we pushed the hundreds of prayer wheels and truly felt what it is to be Tibetan, a devotion to self, faith and nature. As we walked clockwise for good karma and pushed the many prayer wheels we walked along goats, pigs and yaks just meandering around with no fear of humans, it was awesome! The next morning Jay and I hiked to the top of the hill and saw a farmer hearding his yak, they throw stones at them, and also saw a wolf in the hills. Walking through the town back to our hotel it's truly amazing to catch the eyes of a Tibetan and smile and see their face light up with excitement and smile right back, their faces will always remain with me. We hooked up with our guide for the next 8 days, Jamyung and our guide Blair and took a tour of the monestary. Walking in the prayer halls you're truly takin off your feet as you watch hundreds of monks in meditation. You truly feel as if you're taking back in time to a lost world tucked deep in the hills of the Himilayas.
Hopping back on the bus we had another 5 hour drive to Langmusi, a smaller village that has one road and sits amongst an absolute amazing backdrop of vertical mountains, rolling green hills, an incredible valley and desert like rock formations with scattered fur like trees. It almost reminds me of bits and parts of Oregon put together. Yesterday we visited a beautiful monestary and hiked to Tigers Cave. Tigers cave was one of the most sureal places I've seen in my life. The story goes that the last remaining Tiger and her cubs in Tibet lived in these caves and were lost in the early 90's most likely by the Chinese Government, those bastards! There were prayer flags streaming across the valled leading into the mountains and hills beyond. We ventured into one of the caves and our guide told us about a rock inside the cave that Tibetans traveled from miles away to see. It is a cure rock that if rubbed on your skin will heal you. I've had a minor migrain because of the altitude so I rubbed my forhead on the rock, and I haven't had any pain since. We hiked up the valled and up the hillside to the top rock that overlooked the city and wow was it tough with the elevation. Reaching the top made it all worth the while as I sat on a rock with a prayer flag waving behind me as I overlooked the beautiful city if Langmusi tucked away in the valley and left to it's peace only to be disturbed by the rare tourist traveling through. We ate dinner last night at this local dive spot and had Yak burgers and oh my god were they huge and delicious and just what the doctor ordered! Yak by the way is the Tibetan bull.
Today we woke up cold again but to another beautifully rare Tibetin sunny day filled with blue sky and no clouds! We hiked up the opposite hillside to a monestary and to a hill that overlooked the hill off the sky burriels where the Tibetan people leave their loved ones dead bodies for the vultures. Their belief is that the vultures consume their bodies and take them to the heavens, beautiful. Also, at the top of the hill is a stack of arrows and weapons that the Tibetans have sacrifised to the mountain gods to protect them. I had no idea that the Tibetans used to be the fearcest warriors in the world at one point before Buddhism was introduced from India. I don't have much more time so I have to get going, our group is having an amazing time and if you didn't know it you'd guess we all were on some sort of family reunion! We've got more places to stay in Australia and just got word that my Tazzie buddy will be back in Tasmania so we are heading there as well! Words truly can't describe the amazing sense of peacefullness this place inbelishes and releases to those who open their eyes and I can't wait for our next stop... Off to the Tibetan grasslands to stay with a nomadic Tibetan family in their tents, I plan on feeding some Yak too!
Gambai,
Grant
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Gambai from Xi'an
Dear friends and family,
I have to start off by telling you how I am typing right now, in a reclining cow designed chair with the keyboard in my lap and a beer on my coffee table, love it~!
I don't remember where I left off last because the icons on my screen are in Chinese which i am totaly lost on! I'll just start off when we met our group on the 10th, monday I think. We met at our hotel, way nicer than our hostel, and all had dinner at a really good dive spot that we ended up eating at every night the rest of our 2 nights in Beijing. We are by far the youngest in our group as all ten of them are older couples from Australia and England and two of the single ladies are from New Zealand and England. I am in love with all of them and we have kind of been adopted by everyone as their kids and visa versa haha. It's incredible to hear all of their stories, one couple sold everything in England and decided before they got married they'd travel the entire world, one couple has been going for 3 months prior and this other Auzzie older guy has been to over 70 countries and had something like 64 jobs in his life! These people are all so amazing and I'm sure you'll hear lots of them as the two single ladies from a town an hour south of Sydney have already been so kinda as to invite us to stay with them and loan us surfboards when we get there as their sons are pro surfers for Quicksilver!
We went the the Great Wall the first day with our group and we hiked the 1000 steps to the top. It was extremely humid and tiring but when we reached the top it was entirely worth it. I felt almost erie as the enormous wall stretched for miles and then was lost in the foggy mist, the first look out was an image I'll not soon forget. When we first drove up to the valled where the wall was and saw the fog we were dissapointed but it made for a much more mysterious and mythical feeling that I can't really fully paint in your minds, you'll have to wait for the pictures. To get down the wall there is a huge alpine slide or topagan if you call it that and it was a blast. Jay and I both got yelled at the whole way down because we didn't use the break and were hauling ass! According to our guide we hold the new record haha. Oh ya, our guide is Canadian and a pretty cool guy, a little shy but super knowledgable and very helpful with navigating these seemingless endless citiess.
The next day we explored Tiennamen Square and the Imperial City which was very cool. The mass size of the area and space really makes you feel the power the emperors held inside those walls. I got a great jump shot with the two Auzzie Gals in from of the massive picture of Mao haha. The only cool fact you won't find on google I thought was that one of the emperors had something like 3,500 concubines/mistresses! And his number one concubine chick sat at the thrown after he died and she was such a bitch that she ordered enough food every meal she ate that she could have fed 5,000 people! At the end of the tour we stopped in a caligraphy art gallery and had some tea and then one of the most amazing things happened that I'll never forget. One of the Auzzie gals, Mandy May, really wanted a Chinese Characture tattoo on her ankle and wanted to have it drawn here in China and then get the tattoo in Australia. The guy doing the caligraphy turns out the be the last remaining nephew of the last emporer and it was something like 4,000 Yuan to get anything done by him! After Mandy told the lady translating that she didnt want an actual piece but rather just a meaning of Peace and Harmony so she could get it tattooed the emperor's nephew said he would do it for 100 Yuan because he was so happy to hear she was getting it tattooed, pretty cool! I later found out that Mandy's sister was a professional caligrapher and wanted Mandy to get it drawn by someone professional, well I guess this guy would account for that! I then learned from Mandy that her sister was bi-polar and committed suicide before Mandy came on this trip and I now knew why she had tears in her eyes as she walked out of that art gallery, simply incredible and gives me goose bumps everytime I think about it.
That night we boarded a 15 hour train for Xi'a, where I am currently. We bought some wine for the train and played a game called presidents and assholes and we all almost died from laughter as we consumed some rather tasty red wine called appropriately "Great Wall Wine." Apparently we were so loud as we made animal noises and died laughing that our guide told us we were his first "write up" he's ever gotten from being on a train with a group, yet another great accomplishment for our group!
The next day after not having slept well at all we took a bus out to the grasslands where the Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered in 1974! This was one of the things I've been most excited to see and it didn't dissapoint. In a dome about the size of a football stadium where thousands of these warriors that were to continue in the afterlife with the Emporer Chin that had them assembled in this huge chambers. It should also be noted that Emperor Chin was responsible for united China, building the Great Wall and the first Forbidden City here in Xi'an that is in fact bigger than the one in Beijing! He had all the 5,000 or so workers burried so that no one would know of his tomb as it lay arest for 2000 years until it's recent discovery. Another cool fact is that he had his concubines burried alive! What a dick! Me and three others all bargained and got some Terra Cotta Warrior statues that were actually constructed out of the clay taken from massive pits, I'm going to send it home as it's pretty big for my pack but definately something I've wanted to get.
Last night after the Terra Cotta Warrior tour we went out to this super grub dive spot where we grilled veggies in a steaming crock pot and ate skewers of lamb and beef, belicimo! I think with our beers and our food I ended up spending something like 40 yuan, or like 6 US bucks! The bloody beer alone would be that much in the states, and yes I through in a bloody in there haha. Afterwards we all went to a favorite bar of our guides and got some good beer and talked story. We left there and the remaing youthful ones of us went to a bar called Night Cats. When we arrived we were immediately greated and takin to our own table where we ordered a bottle of Whiskey and they gave us a bottle of Vodka for free cuz we're white I guess? We danced with some people Chinese girls, which I didn't think existed until last night, and than checked out after out bill was something like 13 dollars each haha!
Xi'an is a pretty cool city, there is a massive shrine bell tower in the center of the city and to get across any street you have to go underground kind of like a lot of places in Beijing. I love it here because we finally saw blue sky for the first time yesterday and i've never been so realived in my life. I think over 50% of the haze was smog and the rest just overcast. Our group is freakin awesome and everyone is a kid at heart and though we've been together only four days our guide thinks we've all known each other for quite some time, possibly in another life haha.
We are going to ride a bike nine miles around the top of the city wall today which sounds cool and than hop on another long train, 12 hours, to a little Tibetan village and than off to Chengdu eventually. It might be a week before i write again as we are staying in guesthouses and will be away from "civilization" so don't worry if you don't hear from me for awhile. I miss everyone and hope you're all having a great time and I hope my Ducks keep kicking ass without me! Love you all!
Gambai,
Grant
I have to start off by telling you how I am typing right now, in a reclining cow designed chair with the keyboard in my lap and a beer on my coffee table, love it~!
I don't remember where I left off last because the icons on my screen are in Chinese which i am totaly lost on! I'll just start off when we met our group on the 10th, monday I think. We met at our hotel, way nicer than our hostel, and all had dinner at a really good dive spot that we ended up eating at every night the rest of our 2 nights in Beijing. We are by far the youngest in our group as all ten of them are older couples from Australia and England and two of the single ladies are from New Zealand and England. I am in love with all of them and we have kind of been adopted by everyone as their kids and visa versa haha. It's incredible to hear all of their stories, one couple sold everything in England and decided before they got married they'd travel the entire world, one couple has been going for 3 months prior and this other Auzzie older guy has been to over 70 countries and had something like 64 jobs in his life! These people are all so amazing and I'm sure you'll hear lots of them as the two single ladies from a town an hour south of Sydney have already been so kinda as to invite us to stay with them and loan us surfboards when we get there as their sons are pro surfers for Quicksilver!
We went the the Great Wall the first day with our group and we hiked the 1000 steps to the top. It was extremely humid and tiring but when we reached the top it was entirely worth it. I felt almost erie as the enormous wall stretched for miles and then was lost in the foggy mist, the first look out was an image I'll not soon forget. When we first drove up to the valled where the wall was and saw the fog we were dissapointed but it made for a much more mysterious and mythical feeling that I can't really fully paint in your minds, you'll have to wait for the pictures. To get down the wall there is a huge alpine slide or topagan if you call it that and it was a blast. Jay and I both got yelled at the whole way down because we didn't use the break and were hauling ass! According to our guide we hold the new record haha. Oh ya, our guide is Canadian and a pretty cool guy, a little shy but super knowledgable and very helpful with navigating these seemingless endless citiess.
The next day we explored Tiennamen Square and the Imperial City which was very cool. The mass size of the area and space really makes you feel the power the emperors held inside those walls. I got a great jump shot with the two Auzzie Gals in from of the massive picture of Mao haha. The only cool fact you won't find on google I thought was that one of the emperors had something like 3,500 concubines/mistresses! And his number one concubine chick sat at the thrown after he died and she was such a bitch that she ordered enough food every meal she ate that she could have fed 5,000 people! At the end of the tour we stopped in a caligraphy art gallery and had some tea and then one of the most amazing things happened that I'll never forget. One of the Auzzie gals, Mandy May, really wanted a Chinese Characture tattoo on her ankle and wanted to have it drawn here in China and then get the tattoo in Australia. The guy doing the caligraphy turns out the be the last remaining nephew of the last emporer and it was something like 4,000 Yuan to get anything done by him! After Mandy told the lady translating that she didnt want an actual piece but rather just a meaning of Peace and Harmony so she could get it tattooed the emperor's nephew said he would do it for 100 Yuan because he was so happy to hear she was getting it tattooed, pretty cool! I later found out that Mandy's sister was a professional caligrapher and wanted Mandy to get it drawn by someone professional, well I guess this guy would account for that! I then learned from Mandy that her sister was bi-polar and committed suicide before Mandy came on this trip and I now knew why she had tears in her eyes as she walked out of that art gallery, simply incredible and gives me goose bumps everytime I think about it.
That night we boarded a 15 hour train for Xi'a, where I am currently. We bought some wine for the train and played a game called presidents and assholes and we all almost died from laughter as we consumed some rather tasty red wine called appropriately "Great Wall Wine." Apparently we were so loud as we made animal noises and died laughing that our guide told us we were his first "write up" he's ever gotten from being on a train with a group, yet another great accomplishment for our group!
The next day after not having slept well at all we took a bus out to the grasslands where the Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered in 1974! This was one of the things I've been most excited to see and it didn't dissapoint. In a dome about the size of a football stadium where thousands of these warriors that were to continue in the afterlife with the Emporer Chin that had them assembled in this huge chambers. It should also be noted that Emperor Chin was responsible for united China, building the Great Wall and the first Forbidden City here in Xi'an that is in fact bigger than the one in Beijing! He had all the 5,000 or so workers burried so that no one would know of his tomb as it lay arest for 2000 years until it's recent discovery. Another cool fact is that he had his concubines burried alive! What a dick! Me and three others all bargained and got some Terra Cotta Warrior statues that were actually constructed out of the clay taken from massive pits, I'm going to send it home as it's pretty big for my pack but definately something I've wanted to get.
Last night after the Terra Cotta Warrior tour we went out to this super grub dive spot where we grilled veggies in a steaming crock pot and ate skewers of lamb and beef, belicimo! I think with our beers and our food I ended up spending something like 40 yuan, or like 6 US bucks! The bloody beer alone would be that much in the states, and yes I through in a bloody in there haha. Afterwards we all went to a favorite bar of our guides and got some good beer and talked story. We left there and the remaing youthful ones of us went to a bar called Night Cats. When we arrived we were immediately greated and takin to our own table where we ordered a bottle of Whiskey and they gave us a bottle of Vodka for free cuz we're white I guess? We danced with some people Chinese girls, which I didn't think existed until last night, and than checked out after out bill was something like 13 dollars each haha!
Xi'an is a pretty cool city, there is a massive shrine bell tower in the center of the city and to get across any street you have to go underground kind of like a lot of places in Beijing. I love it here because we finally saw blue sky for the first time yesterday and i've never been so realived in my life. I think over 50% of the haze was smog and the rest just overcast. Our group is freakin awesome and everyone is a kid at heart and though we've been together only four days our guide thinks we've all known each other for quite some time, possibly in another life haha.
We are going to ride a bike nine miles around the top of the city wall today which sounds cool and than hop on another long train, 12 hours, to a little Tibetan village and than off to Chengdu eventually. It might be a week before i write again as we are staying in guesthouses and will be away from "civilization" so don't worry if you don't hear from me for awhile. I miss everyone and hope you're all having a great time and I hope my Ducks keep kicking ass without me! Love you all!
Gambai,
Grant
Sunday, September 9, 2007
We're not in Kansas anymore...
Dear Family and Friends,
Profuse spitting, smog glazed sky, motionless faces, slopping eating, burping after meals, loud tones of speaking, no English tounge, no traffic laws, spiritual vibes, rare smiles, no crime, values and traditions
comprise the 15 million people of Beijing!
We went to the Llama Temple two days ago and were taking away and completely suprised at what we saw. The temple is actually about 5 temples all in a row and to get to the next one you have to walk through each temple. As you progress through each temple the number and sizes of the buddhas inside become larger. We kept saying, "this is the grand daddy," and then another temple would appear and yet another buddha even bigger! But nothing could prepare us for what the last and biggest temple withheld which was a statue of a buddha about 100 ft tall!! I could barely get the whole thing in a picture frame! The temples all had incents and burning fire pits in front of them and the arroma as well as the people praying painted an unimaginable portrait of peacefulness. After walking through the temple we met an Italian girl named Laura and she was insanely gorgeous! We walked with her to another temple around the corner which was the second biggest Confusious Temple in China! Again, this place was amazing and we got Laura to do a jump shot with Jay, his first one!
Later that night we met back up with Laura and her friend Edmound who was from France. We went to a pretty lively area where there were lots of bars surrounded by a lake and got some drinks. We ate at this place I've never seen before where you dip your raw meat into a boiling pot and it cooks it for you and than you eat it. Not bad I must say, and we continued to talk about this and that and how to say Cheers in all of our languages!
Yesterday Jay and I went to a very lively market with all kinds of hand made goods and arts which was really cool. Jay and I both bought some artwork for really cheap that we are going to send home, pending it doesn't cost too much! Speaking of cost, everything is super cheap here, we have been eating extremely well and spending about 60-100 Yuan or anywhere from 5-13 US dollars total for our meal! Well, we are saying bye to our momma cat and her kittens at our hostel and Ema that works here and taking off for our hotel where we'll meet up with the rest of our tour and venture off deep into China and out of the city...
Gumbai,
Grant
Profuse spitting, smog glazed sky, motionless faces, slopping eating, burping after meals, loud tones of speaking, no English tounge, no traffic laws, spiritual vibes, rare smiles, no crime, values and traditions
comprise the 15 million people of Beijing!
We went to the Llama Temple two days ago and were taking away and completely suprised at what we saw. The temple is actually about 5 temples all in a row and to get to the next one you have to walk through each temple. As you progress through each temple the number and sizes of the buddhas inside become larger. We kept saying, "this is the grand daddy," and then another temple would appear and yet another buddha even bigger! But nothing could prepare us for what the last and biggest temple withheld which was a statue of a buddha about 100 ft tall!! I could barely get the whole thing in a picture frame! The temples all had incents and burning fire pits in front of them and the arroma as well as the people praying painted an unimaginable portrait of peacefulness. After walking through the temple we met an Italian girl named Laura and she was insanely gorgeous! We walked with her to another temple around the corner which was the second biggest Confusious Temple in China! Again, this place was amazing and we got Laura to do a jump shot with Jay, his first one!
Later that night we met back up with Laura and her friend Edmound who was from France. We went to a pretty lively area where there were lots of bars surrounded by a lake and got some drinks. We ate at this place I've never seen before where you dip your raw meat into a boiling pot and it cooks it for you and than you eat it. Not bad I must say, and we continued to talk about this and that and how to say Cheers in all of our languages!
Yesterday Jay and I went to a very lively market with all kinds of hand made goods and arts which was really cool. Jay and I both bought some artwork for really cheap that we are going to send home, pending it doesn't cost too much! Speaking of cost, everything is super cheap here, we have been eating extremely well and spending about 60-100 Yuan or anywhere from 5-13 US dollars total for our meal! Well, we are saying bye to our momma cat and her kittens at our hostel and Ema that works here and taking off for our hotel where we'll meet up with the rest of our tour and venture off deep into China and out of the city...
Gumbai,
Grant
Friday, September 7, 2007
Greetings from Beijing!
Dear friends and family,
The antisipatioin and anxiety sitting on a 12 hour flight is killer let me tell you! Jay and I had a really good flight, a little uncomfortable for two 6 ft kids but hey, we made do. The 15 hour ahead of time adujstment hasn't been bad at all, we got alot of sleep on our flight so we turned our bodies over really easy, no jet lag at all!
Stepping out into the airport we quickly realized we were the only white people around and on are own! We managed to find an info. center after grabbing our backpacks and got the hostel on the phone so they could give directions to our cab driver which was quite the ordeal, which we knew it would be after reading the reviews of the hostel. Jumping into the cab my first instinct was to grab the window lever to roll down the window and escape from the overwhelming humidty. And yes, the door handel fell right off into my lap as I looked over at Jay we couldn't help but become histerical. So, everyone knows that asians are horrible drivers in the states, sorry i know that's a stereotype but it's true, and let me say that our cab right to our hostel was the scariest cab ride hands down in my life! The crazy thing we realized was that amongst the mad chaous of insanely aggresive drivers, we haven't seen one accident so far, a couple blinkers, no definate lanes, and yet haven't seen one accident! There really aren't any traffic laws or police to inforce them but it all seems to work out I guess.
Our hostel is super nice and very traditional and have only run into one American which is always cool. It's situated back in a pretty sketchy Huton (alley way) but I haven't felt threatened at all once, or anywhere in the entire city, crime seems to be non-existant along with any form of authority.
The second day we hoped on the bus and ventured our way out to "the summer palace." Their bus system is insane, there is about 4 or 5 cars to every bus, which is a lot of buses! Everyone one of these buses is compeletely packed to the max too with people, there is barely any room to stand and the bus it seems is never too full for one more! We road the bus for an hour and it cost us about 40 cents one way! The summer palace is incredible and massive in acrerage, i would pounder about 50 acres! There is a massive lake in the middle of the park and on the hillside there's a huge pagoda dedicated to the buddha. On the other side of this hill we were walking through this forest of super old trees, some 300 years old, and then came to a clearing and looking up this hillside to see the massive palace built into huge boulders on this hillside, truly incredible. We rented a boat and road around the lake which was cool until we realized how hot it was and decided to head back as sweat dripped down our forheads! Amongst the thousands of people at this site, we remained two of no more than 10 white people we saw, pretty cool being the minority I must say.
Today we check out the "temple of heaven," which was again set amongst a massive park of diverse plant life that dates back nearly 300 years. The actual temple of heaven is pretty breath taking and don't worry, I got a sweet jump shot in front of it! Jay seems to be a little skeptical of the jumps shots but after he saw what it looked like I think I sold him! Also, some food for thought, they didn't use one nail to constuct the temple! There is this circle called "the echo wall" and you can stand in the middle of the circle and yell and it yells back at you even louder apparently. So, we get to the top of this place and there are tons of Chinese tourists taking pictures on the circle but no one is saying anything, so Jay and I thought it would be funny to stand on the circle and yell something really profane because no one knows Enlgish. I havent laughed that hard in a long time as Jay stepped up to the circle and at the tops of his lungs yelled, mom you can skip to the next paragraph, "PENIS!" All the Chinese just laughed and thought we were so funny, little did they know!
We peddled around an international marketplace with the same crap you see in Mexico and everywhere else which was rather dissapointing while getting our arms tugged and pleaded to buy all their worthless junk but hey ya gotta do it to say you did it right? After walking probably 10 miles today we thought it best to risk our life and take a cab home and re-group.
The people's faces seem motionless on the streets but we have encountered situations where we've been greeted with kind hearts and smiles and it's definately a completely differen't culture than we're used to but we're loving it! No problems yet so cross your fingers!
Gumbai,
Grant
The antisipatioin and anxiety sitting on a 12 hour flight is killer let me tell you! Jay and I had a really good flight, a little uncomfortable for two 6 ft kids but hey, we made do. The 15 hour ahead of time adujstment hasn't been bad at all, we got alot of sleep on our flight so we turned our bodies over really easy, no jet lag at all!
Stepping out into the airport we quickly realized we were the only white people around and on are own! We managed to find an info. center after grabbing our backpacks and got the hostel on the phone so they could give directions to our cab driver which was quite the ordeal, which we knew it would be after reading the reviews of the hostel. Jumping into the cab my first instinct was to grab the window lever to roll down the window and escape from the overwhelming humidty. And yes, the door handel fell right off into my lap as I looked over at Jay we couldn't help but become histerical. So, everyone knows that asians are horrible drivers in the states, sorry i know that's a stereotype but it's true, and let me say that our cab right to our hostel was the scariest cab ride hands down in my life! The crazy thing we realized was that amongst the mad chaous of insanely aggresive drivers, we haven't seen one accident so far, a couple blinkers, no definate lanes, and yet haven't seen one accident! There really aren't any traffic laws or police to inforce them but it all seems to work out I guess.
Our hostel is super nice and very traditional and have only run into one American which is always cool. It's situated back in a pretty sketchy Huton (alley way) but I haven't felt threatened at all once, or anywhere in the entire city, crime seems to be non-existant along with any form of authority.
The second day we hoped on the bus and ventured our way out to "the summer palace." Their bus system is insane, there is about 4 or 5 cars to every bus, which is a lot of buses! Everyone one of these buses is compeletely packed to the max too with people, there is barely any room to stand and the bus it seems is never too full for one more! We road the bus for an hour and it cost us about 40 cents one way! The summer palace is incredible and massive in acrerage, i would pounder about 50 acres! There is a massive lake in the middle of the park and on the hillside there's a huge pagoda dedicated to the buddha. On the other side of this hill we were walking through this forest of super old trees, some 300 years old, and then came to a clearing and looking up this hillside to see the massive palace built into huge boulders on this hillside, truly incredible. We rented a boat and road around the lake which was cool until we realized how hot it was and decided to head back as sweat dripped down our forheads! Amongst the thousands of people at this site, we remained two of no more than 10 white people we saw, pretty cool being the minority I must say.
Today we check out the "temple of heaven," which was again set amongst a massive park of diverse plant life that dates back nearly 300 years. The actual temple of heaven is pretty breath taking and don't worry, I got a sweet jump shot in front of it! Jay seems to be a little skeptical of the jumps shots but after he saw what it looked like I think I sold him! Also, some food for thought, they didn't use one nail to constuct the temple! There is this circle called "the echo wall" and you can stand in the middle of the circle and yell and it yells back at you even louder apparently. So, we get to the top of this place and there are tons of Chinese tourists taking pictures on the circle but no one is saying anything, so Jay and I thought it would be funny to stand on the circle and yell something really profane because no one knows Enlgish. I havent laughed that hard in a long time as Jay stepped up to the circle and at the tops of his lungs yelled, mom you can skip to the next paragraph, "PENIS!" All the Chinese just laughed and thought we were so funny, little did they know!
We peddled around an international marketplace with the same crap you see in Mexico and everywhere else which was rather dissapointing while getting our arms tugged and pleaded to buy all their worthless junk but hey ya gotta do it to say you did it right? After walking probably 10 miles today we thought it best to risk our life and take a cab home and re-group.
The people's faces seem motionless on the streets but we have encountered situations where we've been greeted with kind hearts and smiles and it's definately a completely differen't culture than we're used to but we're loving it! No problems yet so cross your fingers!
Gumbai,
Grant
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