China & Tibet (cont...)

April 24

I slept in hard today. The flight wasn't until two in the afternoon, and I had a very comfy bed for a change. The bottom of my feet started to blister - I think I must have aquired some kind of fungus from that "cat-piss" hotel I stayed at in Chongqing.
I had arranged with the cabbie from yesterday to pick me up at noon and bring me to the airport. It was a hilarious drive, as most of my cab trips in China had been. Such a friendly people. Anyways, the cabbie went on about "big American penis, small Chinese penis". In very broken English, he communicated how he wished he was American - more money. "Just a taxi driver!", he would say. Turns out he has a crush on the guide that was touring around with me yesterday. Funny, I thought she looked like a short female John Lennon with freckles. But guides are very well off. The job makes good money for them. We passed by a fisherman who had an enormous ling or some kind of yellow fish dangling from his line. He stood by the road hoping to sell this fish to a passerby.
The plane was delayed for some reason, but I made it into Shanghai by 6pm. And in my first hour here, I got Shanghai'ed! Nazareth's song played in my head as I tried to work out just how badly I got taken - I was charged 150 yuan for a ride that should have cost 50. Well, that's about $24 for an $8 ride. Oh well! Wasn't gonna let that ruin the trip! I kinda like the fact that I can say "I got Shanghai'ed in Shanghai" with having been stabbed or something.
The Nanjing hotel is in an AWESOME location! I took this picture to the left from my balcony! There are several futuristic-looking buildings in the city's downtown. The hotel is situated half a block from the Nanjing Donglu, a famous shopping area for the Chinese. It's also only about a kilometer and a half from the Bund. I decided to go for a walk to take in the endless neon lights. I would only be in Shanghai for a couple of days, and I figured I'd take advantage of the good weather.
Well, it's no wonder the TGD has to be built - my God, the amount of lights here is unreal! This shot is from the Nanjing Donglu. It is a pedestrian only mall, with a miniature train running up and down its length. I couldn't believe the amount of lights here - beautiful. The pictures really don't do them justice...
I can't count how many times I was approached by peddlers trying to get me to go into their "massage parlours" - "We have girl for you! Happy ending!" There were fake Rolexes, kitchy neon lights and wheels for your sneakers, and one offer for drugs by a middle-eastern individual. All this in the span of fifteen minutes. I decided to tune it out by putting in my earphones and cranking Blue Rodeo as I strolled around looking for the perfect picture.
I made my way down to the Bund. This area holds a lot of history. It was a major trading post for European-Chinese dealings. It has been equated to Wall Street - where fortunes are made, and also lost.

Across the Huangpu River is the Padong area of Shanghai. There's a lot of development taking place here. The Jinmao Tower, just to the right of center of this picture, is the fourth tallest free-standing building in the world. I made a mental note to myself to go visit the "Cloud Nine" bar at the top of that tower! On the left-hand side is the Oriental Pearl Tower, which serves as a TV tower. There is public access to the baubles of the tower, however, I read in the Lonely Planet guide that the Jinmao Tower offered just as good a view, plus I could grab a beer at the bar. Easy decision! Here's a picture of a small portion of the Bund. Old buildings with distinct European flavours to them. The clock tower was supposedly built to resemble Big Ben. There were hundreds of tourists walking up and down the Zongshan Dong Yilu, the pedestrian walkway overlooking the river.
On my way back to the Nanjing Donglu, I noticed a chopstick store. I had a lot of things to do tomorrow, and I added that store to the list of places to visit. I treated myself to some McDonald's and headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.

April 25

Another laundry day. My feet were getting worse, and I was running low on band-aids. I found a pharmacy and picked up what I hoped would be enough for the rest of the week. Until I got home, I'd just try to keep 'em clean and bandaged up! I had a long soak in the bath tub, and got myself ready to go out touring.
My first stop was to the "Foreign Book Store". I picked up four novels, and noticed the series of books that had inspired me to come to China - the Asian Saga by James Clavell. I headed back to where I had seen the chopstick store, and purchased a beautiful set of chopsticks. They are made of ebony with silver wraps at the top. Dragons and Phoenixes adorn the silver wraps. There was no bartering at this store because it was government run. I returned to the hotel to drop the books and chopsticks off, and figure out my plan of attack. I was torn between visiting the museum, and checking out the Yuyuan Gardens and Bazaar. The front desk informed me that there would most likely be rain tomorrow, so that made the choice for me.
I caught a cab to the area, and walked around looking for an "antique" area. As I walked around, I acquired a self-impossed guide to help me translate and search for what I was looking for. He was a older gentleman, a teacher of some sort. He spoke with shop owners describing what I was looking for, and I sensed that he was looking to get a comission from the stores for his efforts. I decided to go see the Yuyuan Gardens before making any purchases. As we walked towards the gardens, he told me he had an aunt working in a bank in Vancouver. He asked if I had any Canadian coins. I didn't, however, I handed over a $5 Canadian bill. He had no interest in wandering through the gardens, so I offered him 30 quai for his troubles, and bid him farwell, and good luck. The entrance to the gardens was hidden from view behind this beautiful tea-house to the left in the picture. Queen Elizabeth II herself has visited this tea-house and enjoyed one of their delicacies.
There is also a steak house behind the tea-house where Bill Clinton had visited on his trip. The Yuyuan Gardens were beautiful - several different species of flora and trees. Even the pathways were ornamental. Built in the mid-1500's, it took about 18 years for the garden to be completed. It was subjected to bombardment by the British in 1842 during the first Opium War, an event mentionned in the book, "Taipan" of the Asian Saga. The French also bombed the gardens a few years later when they felt they had been cheated by the Chinese in some commercial dealings.
I returned to the antiques area, and picked up five pieces of blue and white porcelain after some hard bartering. I got into a cab to get back to the hotel, and realized that I had left my Lonely Planet guide book behind in one of the shops. Oh well, I would have to replace it when I got home, but felt bad for losing all the notes that I had taken in there. I was using a photocopy of my passport as a bookmark, so I made a note to myself to write down all the critical stuff down in another "safe place".
I got back to the hotel and organized my loot, and headed down to the Pizza Hut for supper. I wandered down the Nanjing Donglu again to go to the Bund. This time I had the earphones in right away to avoid the harassment. Noticed that there were alot of traffic police to prevent the hoards of people from J-walking. It was a comical sight to come to a set of lights and watch the moped and bicycle"gangs" line up at the light, and open up the throttles when the light went green. Horns would blare, arms would flap... Damn that was funny! Just a huge surge of man and machine surging from intersection to intersection.

I caught a cab over to the Jinmao Tower. Most of the tower is occupied by the Grand Hyatt hotel. It took me three elevators to get up to the Cloud Nine Bar on the 87th floor. It was elegant as hell, and I felt a little out of place all scruffily bearded and dressed like a bum. As I stared down at the brightly lit Bund, I thought to myself that this must be what a helicopter ride must be like, without the noise and motion. After a cigar and couple of beers, I headed back down to normal atmosphere and waited 45 minutes for a cab - it was pouring rain, and everyone and their dog was lined up for transportation. I got to the hotel, and crashed hard. Long and eventful day.

April 26

Woke up to an overcast day. I grabbed more band-aids to treat the feet and had a quick bite to eat before heading over to the Shanghai Museum. Beautiful skyscrappers surround Renmin Park, where the museum and the Shanghai Grand Theatre are located. Here's a shot of the theatre - just beautiful. I noticed a guide holding a Canadian flag in front of the entrance to the museum! I walked up to her and started chatting. She was guiding a group of Canadians through the museum that day. It was the first time I had seen the Canadian flag in China, and I must admit, I felt a patriotic flutter in my chest about it... Here to the left is a picture of the museum itself. As I wandered around trying to find good picture angles, a young Chinese couple approached me and we started to chat. They were visiting from Xi'an, and I complemented them on their beautiful city. As always, the girl made flattering comments about my blue eyes. They had a good grasp on the English language, that's for sure. In any case, they invited me to attend a "traditional tea ceremony" and immediately a warning flag popped up in my head. During one of our bar-room discussions in Lhasa, Killian had warned me and the other travellers about a scam either he or one of his mates had fallen prey to in Beijing. You get invited to this ceremony, and at the end of the service, they charge you something ridiculous like $70 US for attending! Obviously, the charlatans that bring you to the tea house get a comission of some sort. On that note, I politely bid the couple farewell and entered the museum.

The exterior architecture of the museum is based on the the three-legged bowl of ancient times. As can be seen in the exterior picture, there are handles on the roof of the building. Here is one of the museum's prized pieces. It's a huge bronze cauldron weighing in at about 300kg! You could easily fit half a dozen large watermelons in this unit. Alot of the exhibits were similar to the Xi'an museum, and just as magnificent.

Another piece that caught my eye was this massive tableture. Every little portico carved into the stone held a bhudda. Amazing craftmanship. Here's a close up.

I picked up a replica of a huge pre-Ming porcelain vase from the gift shop, and made my way back towards the hotel. There was thankfully no rain, so I walked. I crossed under a road and watched a young girl performing acrobatics. She mounted a pedestel using her teeth to support herself upside down, and twirled herself around, folding herself over, points of her toes to her shoulders. An older British lady and I guessed her age to be about five or six years old. This young girl was destined to become a gymnist with the world-reknown Chinese Acrobats, if fate unfolded itself fairly. Her mother was collecting money as her daughter performed, and I gladly gave her a couple of quai.

As I exited the tunnel I was immediately approached by a couple asking the usual questions of where I was from, am I enjoying my visit, and then the tea-ceremony question would pop up. I kept walking as they targeted other foreigners walking through the district. It wasn't long before a lone gentleman pitched the same deal. I was getting pretty pissed off with the situation, and then, a pair of gorgeous asian girls approached with the same song and dance. Now, I know I'm a guest to their country, and should act accordingly. However, it seemed to me that these vultures were learning to speak English merely as a ticket to swindle tourists. I coyly told the girls that I wasn't interested in attending a tea-ceremony, but would enjoy their company in a bubble-bath back at my hotel room. They blushed, and still tried to pursue me to go to the tea-house! The bloody nerve! All the while, the Rolex-DVD-Massage hawkers relentlessly pestered the foreign passer-bys. As I approached an internet cafe, my destination, one final attempt by a lone woman failed to lure me into a tea-ceremony.

I checked my e-mail, and NHL.com. Wade Redden had returned to the line-up after his mother had succumbed to cancer a few days prior. The Sens beat the Bolts 8-4. Wade was one of the goal-scorers.

I wanted to purchase a black fresh-water pearl for my mother, and found a government-run store to do so. Nanjing Donglu is more popular with Chinese shoppers than foreigners, so the salespeople and I had a bit of difficulty communicating what I was searching for. I finally found the perfect pearl. It was difficult to find an unblemished pearl, and the only one that I found unblemished was huge. I went to purchase it on my Mastercard, but the magnetic strip was not co-operating with their machine. I tried to show them the ol' plastic-bag-over-the-card routine, but most likely due to the language barrier, they would have none of it. We tried a manual entry, and that failed to go through. My frustration was growing. I showed them a bank receipt indicating I had about 232,ooo quai at my disposal, but again, no luck. I ended up walking to a bank and taking out 8,000 quai cash for the pearl, and quickly returned to purchase the unit. All smiles now from the salespeople! Grrrrr!!! Love you mom!

I returned to my nearby hotel and soaked away the day's stress in a bubble-bath - alas, without the company of the two gorgeous asian girls...!

China & Tibet (cont...)

April 21

Amy met me in the lobby around 8:30AM & we went down to the nearby harbour. She made arrangements for me to be picked up at the Yichang Harbour, and got me a room at the Yichang International Hotel. I thanked her for her help, and boarded the "Yangtze Princess". There was a huge breakfast spread layed out in the dinning room, and I filled myself up with bacon, hashbrowns, orange juice and croissants. Western food on the western boat! The room was as good as any of the hotels I had stayed in, granted a bit smaller, but hey, I had my own bathroom! There was even laundry service on the boat, which I took advantage of. It was pricey, but hey, it had to be done.
There were three interpreters/guides on the boat - one English, one German, and one Chinese. Samuel was the English guide. He found me some cigars, and after we cast off, I spent the morning on the foredeck enjoying the view as I read the latest Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. It was rather foggy, so there weren't any good opportunities for pictures, for now. I grabbed a nap and skipped lunch.
One of the things I noticed as we cruised down the river were several white markers on the banks. I didn't realise their significance until I attended a seminar put on by Samuel about the Three Gorges Dam Project. These markers showed where the water level would sit when Stage III of the TGD was completed. Presently, the water level is at 127m above mean sea level, and it would eventually rise to 175m ASL. There were several communities that were relocated or abandonned due to the eventual flooding.
Here's a few facts I gathered from the seminar... The Yangtze River is the third longest river in the world (the Nile and Amazon take first and second respectively). There are 400 million Chinese that inhabit the Yangtze's watershed. There are plans to divert some of the Yangtze's waters to the Yellow River to the north. this would be done from Chongqing and Yichang, on the downstream side of the dam. There have been a reported 1.2 million people displaced by the completion of Stage II, although this seemed to me a low number considering the above mentionned statistic of 400 million people residing in its watershed... I'll continue on with more mind-numbing numbers as we reach the dam itself.
We stopped at a spot they called "Ghost City". Here was a town that had been leveled and relocated to the other side of the river high up on the banks. There was a Taoist and Bhuddist temple above this "Ghost City" and we trekked to the top to take in the view and the temples. Unfortunately, the majority of these temples and structures had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and so the reconstructions were made of cast concrete, and the statues looked more Disneyland-like than authentic. Mind you, I had just been in Tibet and seen the real temples, and genuine Bhuddah statues. There were gift shops here as well, which I felt also spoiled the atmosphere. I saw a white and blue porcelin urn here that I wish I had bought, but hey, I would be in Shanghai in a couple of days and there's bound to be a lot more choice there!
We returned to the boat, and the captain was at the entrance of the dinning room greeting all his passengers. Dinner was a Chinese meal, and it was very good! We were all given a glass of champagne to celebrate our first day cruising on the Yangtze. I signed up for an early morning excursion to the Stone Treasure Stockade.

April 22

The excursion was cancelled this morning because the fog was too thick. There was an announcement over the PA system that we would be passing through the first of the three gorges in about ten minutes. I grabbed a quick shower and made my way to the lower fore-deck to take in the Qutang Gorge. It was only 8km long, and so we passed through it quickly. If you look at the picture to the left, and use a little bit of imagination, the spiked tops of these hills look like the back of some mythical creature diving into the river...
The mountains faded away just in time for breakfast. After filling myself up, I went to the top floor to take in the view from there and struck up a conversation with one of the artists selling his "inside-painting snuff bottles". I watched a video showing the process of making the snuff bottles. It's quite a laborious process. The bottles are turned, not blown. Surfaces can be left clouded or made clear, depending on the sanding and finishing process. Then the painting begins. Very fine brushes are used, and inserted into the bottle and the inside surface of the bottle is painted. I was very thankful for the time this gentleman took to explain the process, and he was happy to practice his English. As we chatted, there were a couple of "fast-boats" that sped by. These Russian built hydrofoils would make the three day journey that we were taking in just 11 hours, but I was told that it's not the most comfortable ride. Plus, you don't really get to see the Gorges properly travelling that fast!

The sun was trying to push through the fog as we entered the next gorge, the Wu Gorge. This second of the three is 45km long. I tried to imagine what this area would look like in a few months. The river is scheduled to rise to 175m in October 2006. There are other benefits from the dam apart from the copious amount of electricity it will generate - the Yangtze will become more navigable by the large boats, and it will control a flooding problem that has plagued the area for centuries. There has been documented evidence that the creation of these large-scale dams disturbs the local atmospheric conditions. Hence the fog will get thicker... There are also reports of more earthquake activity due to the saturation of the land. Furthermore, there is concern from environmentalists that the river's flow will be reduced to such an extent that the water will not be able to properly re-oxyginate itself. Currently, there are no less than 40 villages and towns and about 400 factories that dump their waste and chemical by-products into the river. The world's largest dam will also create the world largest septic tank... There are several species of fish that will suffer from the dam's existance. But more on that when I get to Yichang.
After lunch, we stopped at the port of Badong where we transfer to a smaller boat to travel up one the tributaries of the Yangtze. We cruised by shear cliffs. There were some caves high up in the cliffs where, we were told, the locals would place their dead. The bodies were in coffins and often there were swords or spears left with them to take to the next world. Several of these treasures will be lost with the rise of the waters.
After about 45 minutes, we deboarded the small cruiser and hopped into traditional skids powered by the locals, the Badu. There were six men to steer and row the boat. We went up a fast- flowing creek until the boat tagged the rocky bottom, at which point four of the Badu men hopped out and put on harnesses with a long rope attached to a small mast on the boat. They dragged us up the rocky stretch of water until we came to a deeper section where we crossed the creek to the other bank. Again, the fellows hopped out and dragged us to a deeper area where we turned the boat into small rapids, and rode them down back to our shuttle boat.
We were back onto the Yangtze Princess by about 5:30 that evening. The farwell supper was interesting - the captain came around to each and every table to toast us a good journey. There were 12 tables, and the captain drank a glass of champagne at each one. I'm not sure if he had a substitute drink or not - this would seem unlikely, for the Chinese have great pride in their drinking. I had witnessed a hilarious lunch at a restaurant in Beijing where a table of businessmen were toasting each other quite loudly and getting hammered. They waitresses giggled nervously when they caught my eye watching the spectacle unwind. One of the businessmen came over to offer me a cigarette, and I politely refused, and with a bow and a smile, he returned to his table to go on drinking. It looked like the whole endeavour was to show each other and the surrounding patrons just how much liquor they could consume. There were comb-overs flying everywhere. What a riot. Anyways, I wondered to myself if we would have a drunken captain at the wheel for the rest of the trip!
Tonight, we would be passing through the locks of the TGD. There are five locks, and it took about four hours to go through them all. They are huge... As you can see from this picture, there's a similar cruise boat ahead of us, and there was a coal barge behind us. These locks could accomodate six boats the size of the Yangtze Princess. Unreal. The doors to the locks were massive - I'm sure that they surpassed the footprint of my 1200 square foot house... After passing through a couple of the locks, I called it a night. Tomorrow we would take a tour of the dam itself.

April 23

I woke up to the the sound of blarring horns as we drifted into port. With the boat tied off, we hopped on a bus from Sandouping to the dam. We had a very cheerful guide, Maxwell House (no joke!) who happened to be one of the millions of people displaced by the dam project. We made two stops at the dam - one just below it where a park had been built, and the second on a hill overlooking the dam-site.
Dozens of massive electrical towers were lined up on the hills beside the dam. The dam is just over 2km long. At its base, it is 190m wide, and 18m wide at the top. It stands 185m high. Once completed, there will be 26 turbines generating 84.7 BILLION kW/hr per year. That's 15% of China's total need! Most of that electricity will be going to Beijing and Shanghai. At the interperative center, there is this model of the project. To the right are the huge locks. Between the locks and the dam is where the interperative center is. Just to the right of the dam is the high-speed boat lift for smaller boats. And of course, to the left of the lift is the dam itself.
Our bus had to stop a couple of times as a motorcade would drive by. Maxwell told us there was a "big potatoe" visiting the project today! Unfortunately, the "big potatoe" couldn't do anything about the weather - thick fog blanketed the area. Because of this fog, I couldn't get a good shot of the enitre span of this incredible engineering marvel.
We returned to the Yangtze Princess for the final leg of the cruise. I finally saw some traditional Chinese junks, and snapped this shot of them. We reached Yichang's docks by noon, and as Amy promised, there was a guide waiting for me there. She had a trainee with her as well, but she didn't say much. I checked into the hotel, and grabbed a bite to eat. I had asked the guides if there was anything of interest to see in the city, and they suggested a few places we could visit. So they came back to the hotel in the late afternoon, and we went to visit a museum and a fish hatchery. The museum was very similar to the one I visited in Xi'an, but of course much smaller. The interesting thing about this museum was that all the relics here had been found on a small island that has been swallowed up by the Three Gorges Dam Project. The process of selecting a suitable site for the dam took into consideration several factors, but one of the deciding factors for its present location was the island of Zaobuo (sp?). This island allowed for the dam to be built in two stages laterally, and so the Yangtze did not have to be completely diverted in one stage. Before the contruction began, the island was excavated and the relics found placed in this museum. With the dam nearing completion, the museum is all that is left of that island.
We then went to an amazing hatchery that was founded to preserve several endangered species affected by the dam. The biggest star attraction is the Chinese Sturgeon. They are huge! The largest ever recorded weighed in at 500kg, and measured over 5m long. There are also Yangtze River Dolphins - maybe a meter in length, with a brownish skin. Their heads reminded me of a beluga whale rather than the bottle-nose dolphins. There are also Yangtze porpoises, and to my surprise Yangtze alligators. I had no idea that there were alligators in China, but there they were! They were small, maybe a meter in length, but it was still cool to see these freshwater reptiles.
I asked the tour guide to take me shopping for blue and white porcelin, but I had no luck finding anything I liked. On our way back to the hotel, we were passed by a motorcycle with a huge pig strapped to the back of the bike - still alive and looking very uncomfortable. It was both an amuzing and disturbing sight to see - certainly not something I'd see cruising around in a cab in downtown Calgary!
I had supper at the hotel - there is a revolving restaurant on the roof. I finished my book, and found myself officially out of reading material. Well, I'm sure I'll be able to find an English bookstore in Shanghai tomorrow.

China & Tibet (cont...)

April 15

After a quick breakfast and farewell with Yelle, Yuo and Angie (a Canadian girl living in Thailand), I met up with Killian, Jeyho and Kijeong in the lobby of the Yak Hotel. The Australian girl was still feeling sick, so it was just the four of us plus our driver. We set out westbound for Everest at about 9AM. There are two roads to Shigatse, and we took the Southern Friendship Highway. Now this was definitely a "high"way... The road was carved into the side of the mountains, switchbacking, often without guardrails on the sides. There were also some pretty hairy washboarded spots, making for an exciting journey! We quickly gained altitude, and I suffered yet another headache. Pia was nice enough to give me her Diamox, since she would no longer need it - she had been in Lhasa for a couple of weeks and had aclimatized. I took half a pill and popped some of the local herb capsules. We stopped at the top of the Kamba-la pass (elev. 4800m) to take in a view of Yamdrok-tso ("tso" is Tibetan for lake).
In the distance is Mt. Nojin Kangtsang, where we would stop later in the day. Yamdrok-tso is sacred to the Tibet people. I was given a crash course on the roles of the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama by Killian. There is usually a 30 or so year difference in age between the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama. This is because they both play an important role in the choosing of each other's successor. To chose the next Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama would cast off a sacred boat onto Yamdrok-tso, and whichever direction the wind would blow the boat, that was the direction to seek the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. It is very obvious to see the importance of the lake to the Tibetan people. However, the Chinese see the lake as an opportunity to bring cheap power to the Lhasa region... They have drilled a 6km tunnel under the lake, and are gravity draining the lake into a river nearby. This is a tragedy, because the lake cannot replenish itself naturally - there are no springs and no glaciers to feed it. Already, the level of the lake has dropped, and environmentalists figure it will be a mere pond within 20 years. The Chinese claim the electricity will benefit the Tibetan people, however, Tibetans are quick to declare that the electricity will further encourage the immigration of the Han into Tibet... There are plans similar to the Yamdrok-tso project in the works at other lakes in Tibet.
We stopped at the Lhasa Restaurant in Nangartse. This village's claim to fame is a nearby dzong (fort) where the mother of the Fifth Dalai Lama was born. I had a wonderful curry for lunch. We continued our trip and headed towards Gyantse. The road soon became gravel, skirting waddis and rubble covered slopes. We stopped below the Nojin-Kangtsang Glacier to take pictures of this chorten and the flag pole. Reading from the Lonely Planet guide, it was in this area in the early 1900's that a British expedition clashed forces with a Tibetan army. The British desperately wanted to control Tibet to prevent it from falling into Russian hands. Before long, an agreement was signed between the Chinese and British whereby the Chinese were handed over the "rights" to Tibet. This occured in 1906, long before the struggle for Tibetan independence began in earnest.
We continued on through the Karo-la pass (elev. 5045m) and dropped down into the Simu-la pass (elev. 4330m). The rapid elevation changes were taxing on my head, causing dizziness, but I was so elated to be doing this travel, that it seemed just a pesky inconvinience.
We reached the town of Gyantse by mid-afternoon and took the time to explore the Pelkor Chode Monestary, home of the Gyantse Kumbum. This is the largest chorten in Tibet. It was built in 1427, rising 35m. There were beautiful paintings inside the temples. These religious paintings, called thangkas, showed the several bhuddas, sky burials and many other ornamental ceremonies.
Gyantse was a fortified town, surrounded by a red wall. Most of it was destroyed by the British in the 1904 invasion. We unfortunately did not have the time to go up to the dzong, where I'm sure we would have gotten a beautiful view of the town below. But we wanted to get to Shigatse by nightfall, so we pressed on.
The eject function of the CD player in our Land Cruiser wasn't working, so we suffered a terrible fate - the same album played over and over and over again. It was a Tibetan folk/rock band, and I would have probably enjoyed it if we had only heard two or three times during our 5 day trek, but by the afternoon of the first day, we were all sick of it, except the driver! The iPod came in handy, that's for sure! Jackson Browne was crooning as we got to Shigatse, and we checked into the Tenzin Hotel. Killian and I went for a stroll to a huge internet cafe where children congregated to play video games. The connection was weak at best, so I couldn't find out how my Senators were doing in their first round of the playoffs. I noticed that the majority of the children here were Han Chinese, not Tibetan...
I grabbed a hot shower (what a treat!) and turned in for the night.

April 16

I woke up this Easter Sunday thinking, "I'm going to see Mount Everest today!" We headed out at 8:30AM. It was a long barren drive through sandy plains. There were sand dunes marked with ripples from the howling wind, surrounded by immense, round-topped mountains rising through a dark blue sky. To my utter astonishment, we past a few villages. There are no machines to facilitate the farming here. All is done by hand and by yak-power, from irrigation, to sowing, to cultivation. One of the several hardships that the Tibetans had to endure at the beginning of the occupation was the Chinese forcing the Tibetans to switch to rice instead of the proven barley harvests that their people had lived on for generations. There were tragic rammafications: the rice would not grow at these altitudes and climate, and thousands of Tibetans starved to death. The rice-mandate has since been rescinded, but the impact cannot be overlooked.
We stopped in a tiny village called Lhatse, where I enjoyed some fries and another tasty curry. I couldn't quite figure out the satelite-dish looking devices in the courtyard from a distance, but when I got closer to it, I saw that it was infact what they used to boil their water. I wish I had taken a picture of one of these devices... It's a large bowl like dish made of metal with a stand in its center to hang a pot, and the bowl concentrates the sunlight onto the pot to boil its contents. Pretty resourceful!
We got back on the road and had a nice long stretch of smooth highway. We turned off the pavement to follow the Bun-chu river heading towards Shegar, where we would get our permits to enter the Qomolangma Nature Reserve. After turning south off the Friendship Highway, we hit a checkpoint in Chay where we had to produce our passports. It was a Chinese soldier in uniform that checked our documents, and again, I found this odd. Why would they not give these jobs to the Tibetans? We stopped at the entrance to the Qomolangma Nature Reserve to take some pictures. There were hundreds of prayer flags covering the entrance, wishing good fortune and safe passage to travellers.
Our first glimpse of Mount Everest came as we crested the Pang-la pass (elev. 5120m). There were some Tibetans up here selling fossils, prayer beads and flags. We shared some food with them, and took some pictures. There was a plaque to show which peak was which, and again, I regret not having taken a picture. I guess the altitude might have dumbed me down a few notches! We made our way down to the valley below and passed through several old villages. We had to stop at another checkpoint of sorts to change vehicles. It cost 80 yuan for the bus ride to and from the world's highest monestary, but the saving grace was that it was run by Tibetans. I have absolutely no beef with finally seeing these people making a living from the tourist trade. While we waited for our bus to arrive, we sat with a girl who had suffered a quick onset of acute mountain sickness (AMS). She hadn't taken any medication, and I don't know how high an elevation change she had gone through, but once she had gotten up to the Rongphu Monestary, she lost feeling in one of her arms, and lost her sight. That must have been terrifying... She seemed to be doing all right, and we shared some chocolate and offered some of our meds to her. The rest of her tour group showed up as we headed up to Rongphu.
It was about a 20km bumpy ride to the monestary. There were yaks grazing in front of the buildings, and a couple of children immediately swarmed us begging for change, or anything we could spare.
We settled into our room and grabbed a quick bite to eat. I felt alright, although I had a tingling in my left foot and left hand. I took another half pill of Diamox and walked it off, snapping pictures of the monestary, and of course, Mount Everest. The sun began to set, and Everest became envelopped in a pink hue. It was fading fast, and so I tried my best to get a good shot.

This one turned out pretty good! It was a cold and restless sleep at 4980m, but I was looking forward to tomorrow when we'd head up to Everest Base Camp!

April 17

I woke up around 7:30AM and grabbed a small breakfast. Very glad to have brought a toque along! The four of us headed for EBC at about 8:30. We followed a well-beaten gravel road towards our destination. I have done far more technically difficult hikes in and around the Banff area, but none as tiring as this one. It was only 8km, with a gentle elevation gain of 220m, but it took Killian and I about two hours with all the stops I had to make to catch my breath. I had a couple of burps that tasted like eggs, and I couldn't figure out for the life of me where this taste was coming from. Then Killian deduced it must be the Diamox - it's a sulpher based drug! Well, if that was the only side-effect I'd suffer, I was all too happy to deal with it!

I gained a new respect for mountaineers on this little hike. Television definitely does not do them any justice. I had seen programs about climbing expeditions, and seen the mountaineers gasping for air with their 60lbs packs on their backs. I always thought they were exagerating for the cameras, but hell no!
As we came up to a narrow plateau, the tent city emmerged. The one that caught my eye was this one, the "Hotel California"! The building on the hill is a Chinese administration office, if I remember correctly. We climbed the mound to the right to get some pictures as well. There were several prayer flags and pictures of sherpas and climbers left by a mound of rocks here. I had a bunch of post-cards I wanted to send of from the highest post-office in the world, but unfortunately it was closed. Killian and I hung around anticipating it's opening. We entered a tent beside the P.O. and drank some Jasmine tea with a couple of sherpas. Killian decided to try an experiment - how long would it take to smoke a cigarette at 5200m! Well, it took 15.5 minutes, roughly. Pretty incredible! We got up to leave, and the owners unfortunately ripped us off. They wanted 20 yuan each for the tea! It was ludicrous, and we let them know how we felt about it by gestures. I think they were squeezing us because we hadn't bought any of the trinkets they had tried to sell us, including a knife that sat on the table between us and the sherpa...! It was a smear on the day, considering Jeyho had paid 5 yuan at a tent further down the road, but really, $3 wouldn't dissolve the thrill of being at Everest Base Camp! It became apparent that the P.O. wasn't going to open today, to my disappointment.

It was a cloudy day, but I had seen enough, and Killian was ready to head back to Rongphu as well. Jeyho and Kijeong decided to wait it out to see if the clouds would pass by. So we got back to the monestary, and I decided to grab a nap. At about 6PM, Killian was starting to feel sick and he was thinking about going back down to the place where we switched vehicles. I decided to keep him company, as I thought it would be warmer down there, and I was still suffering from the tingling sensations in my extremities.

We waited in the lounging area - the stove was stoked with dried Yak dung, but didn't stink the room up. We met another Irishman, and a couple of dutch folks. The most intriguing man there was an older fellow, George. He was Swiss, and he was on a biking trip from Sydney, Australia heading back to Switzerland! Unreal! He biked from Sydney to Darwin, then flew up to Bali, and has been biking ever since. He decided to take a path through India, Iran, Algeria and Europe instead of a straight-line through Russia! Quite the adventure! He had gone through four back tires and one front so far... I hope he made it without any drama!

The bus finally showed up at around 9PM, and we made it to the vehicle switching stop just before last light. I felt better already!

April 18

Woke up at 8AM - there was frost everywhere! Glad that I decided to join Killian down here... The toilet was absolutely abismal! I had to mask up, and put some eucalyptus ointment in the mask to overpower the stench! Most places scattered ash on the mound of crap to absorb the smell, but this place didn't.

By 10AM, Jeyho and Kijeong made it down, and it sounds like they didn't get any better pictures. I had lucked out with my decision to come down! We took the bumpy trail out of the Qomolangma Nature Reserve, and we got to Shigatse by 5:30PM. It was a long day, with the same CD playing over and over again!! I headed down to the internet cafe to check out the hockey scores, and had supper with the gang at the Tenzin Hotel. Unfortunately, the hot showers weren't working - the water is heated by the sun on the roof of the hotel, and there hadn't been any sun since we had left the place two days ago. I crashed early, still basking in the realisation that I had made it to Everest. Yes, it was relatively easy, but thinking of all the things I had accomplished so far, this was a memory that I could never forget.

April 19

Shigatse is home to another large monestary - the Tashilhunpo Monestary. There is much history to this monestary. Its founder, Genden Drup, had the monestary built in 1447. He was declared the First Dalai Lama posthumously, and his remains are enshrished here. However, Tashilhunpo's status grew when the Fifth Dalai Lama declared his teacher a manifestation of Opagme. Opagme is the representation of Bhudda's perception and perfected cognition. The Fifthe Dalai Lama's teacher was, at the time, the abbot of Tashilhunpo. This gave birth to a new lineage in the Tibetan culture: the Panchen Lamas. We got up early to go visit the geounds of the monestary, and were lucky enough to witness a huge ceremony in the main temple. It was a very musical event, with drums beating, horns blowing and the monks chanting. Mesmerising! It took a good two hours to circle the entire area. Several of the Panchen Lamas are entombed here at Tashilhunpo Monestary.

I took this picture below at the Tashilhunpo Monestary - beautiful & elegant carpentry accented by the bright colours they used to paint it. There is most likely some spiritual significance to the artwork, perhaps depicting the path to enlightenment, however, I am ignorant of it. I just admired the detail, and thought of all the man-hours it would have taken to produce such a beautiful and functional piece of art.

We headed for Lhasa around noon, and took the Northern Friendship Highway. It was all paved, and made for a comfortable ride. The Yak Hotel had no single rooms available, so I stayed at the Airways Hotel in the shadow of the Potala Palace. It was the only place in Tibet that I found a sit-down toilet! I grabbed a hot shower and washed my socks and underwear in the sink. I had run out of any clean stuff, and tomorrow would be a travel day. I wasn't sure if the Yangtze River cruise boat I was going on had any laundry facilities, so I figured I best not tempt fate.

I joined Killian, Jeyho, Kijeong for supper and enjoyed my first beer in Tibet. I had been over-precautious about not taking in any alcohol at this altitude, but I didn't want to spoil any chances of enjoying my time up here. We dinned at the Namtso where we met Pia and two Quebecers, Stephane and Hugo. We all went down to the Dunya Bar and met up with Jon, Vic and Emery. We sat around talking about this that and the other. It was a very relaxing evening, and people slowly trickled out of the bar as the night wound down. I played a great game of chess with Frank from Germany. We played until the owners of the bar asked us to leave - I resigned my King, and Frank was disappointed the day was done. I guess he hadn't had anyone to play with for a while!

April 20

The travel day... Got up early to catch the shuttle to the airport, and to my surprise, I ran into Angie. I picked up a "Yak Yak Yak" shirt in the airport. She was on a later flight, so we parted company. It was an uneventful flight to Chengdu. Had an aisle seat and no one beside me. I was famished, and I don't think I'd ever enjoyed airline food so much! I had six hours to burn in the Chengdu airport. With the temperature change of 5 degrees to 23, I had a quick "camp shower" in the washroom, and changed into some shorts. Six hours was unfortunately not enough time to go exploring the town. The surrounding area is home to a couple of exhibits for Giant Pandas.

Cal had showed me some awesome pictures that he had taken at one of the reservations. Pretty cute animals, but also pretty much useless!! They eat bamboo chutes like it's going out of style, but their bodies can only process a small percentage of it. Makes for a poop-machine. They are also very particular about what species of bamboo they will eat as well. Definitely reminded me of the Koala, in this respect.

There are only about 1000 left in the wild, if I remember correctly, and they are inbred like crazy. Pandas have a very short three month mating season in the spring. To complicate matters, the Panda's penis is so miniscule, the zoos have to place a stint of some sort to ensure insertion. How dignified is that? Seems to me that the only reason the Panda hasn't gone extinct is due to its "cuteness factor" that has provided human intervention. They are beautiful creatures, though. If there are two or more cubs born, the mother will only keep one and abandon the others, sometimes crushing them while they sleep. The Chinese government continues to fund the reproductive research facilities to try to ensure their survival.

In any case, I wandered around the airport and found a sweet internet cafe. It cost me 30 yuan for unlimited access and a bottomless cup of coffee. I was there about an hour or so, and Angie walked in with a great big smile on her face - she managed to find herself a flight to Bangkok, where she lives.

After about 8 cups of coffee, I walked down to the regional airport about 10 minutes away and caught an EMB 145 to Chongqing. I had previously arranged for a ride to my airport with a friend of Jim Beam's (from Xi'an). Much to my dismay, my ride wasn't waiting for me. I contacted Jim, and he said he'd look into it. I called him back a few minutes later, and he said there was another car on its way - the first one had been in an accident. My ride arrived, and I had a beautiful guide named Amy Pu take me to the hotel. She was very appologetic, not to mention gorgeous. Around 11pm, the phones in each neighboring room, as well as mine, started ringing. I answered "Weeeiiii???" and a female voice spoke soflty. I asked if she spoke any English, and unfortunately she didn't. It took a couple of minutes till I clued in - the hotel was offering "extra" services to its clients, and at this time of night that could only mean... well, you can figure it out.

I had a restless sleep - way too much coffee!

China & Tibet (cont...)

April 13

The airport was interesting. A girl came up to me to take a survey about the services offered at the airport. With the survey done, she stayed to practice her English and I tried to learn some new Chinese words. It was a recurring theme in China, especially if I showed them the Lonely Planet's phrase book. They would go through each and every word! After a while, the girl's boss came along and told her to get back to work. I complimented her on her English telling her that she spoke English far better than I spoke Chinese.
I managed to get a window seat for the flight to Lhasa - an advantage of showing up early to the airport! It was a very bumpy flight, but that's to be expected when flying over mountains. I found my first look at the Himalayas reminded me of the Rocky Mountains. When I de-boarded the plane, the altitude hit me hard. I felt dizzy, and was short of breath. On the bus from the airport to Lhasa, I met two Dutch brothers, Yuo and Yelle. We discussed teaming up to go to Everest Base Camp. We spotted our first Tibetan monks walking along the roadside. It turns out we were staying at the same hostel, so once unpacked, we decided to stretch our legs and check out the message boards at the other hostels to see about getting a trip organized to EBC. At the Yak Hotel, I met an Irishman, Killian, interested in getting a tour flanged up. He already had a Korean couple, and possibly an Australian girl as well, however she was feeling sick from the altitude. I signed on with the Koreans and Killian after the Dutch fellows figured they just didn't have the time to go on the tour...
I joined Killian for supper at the Tashi 2 restaurant and met his travel partner, Jon, and an Israeli couple, Vic and Emery, and a dutch girl named Pia. On my way back to the hostel, I saw a monk, and I smiled as I removed my toque and showed my shaved melon. He walked towards me smiling, and reached for my hand with both of his, and we continued to walk as he murmured his mantras. Absolutely amazing. I turned in early in hopes of a good night's sleep.

April 14

Slept alright - the bed was the softest all trip, so far! Woke up with a dirty headache from the altitude. I grabbed some breakfast with Yuo and Yelle, and went to the bank to get my money for the Everest excursion. I ran into Vic and Emery at the bank, and they told be about a herbal medicine the locals have here to deal with the headaches. I found some at the pharmacy next door, and then ran into Jeyho and Killian. Perfect timing! I passed along my money to them, and set out for the Norbulingka with Yelle and Yuo.
The Norbulingka is the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lama. Commissioned by the seventh Dalai Lama in 1755, the Norbulingka served as the base of operations for the Tibetan government in the summer months. It was here at Norbulingka that the 14th (current) Dalai Lama escaped the clutches of the Chinese invasion in 1959. He fled dressed as a Tibetan soldier. Tens of thousands of Tibetans gathered around the Summer Palace to protect their Dalai Lama. The Chinese bombarded the Norbulingka, and there were very few buildings that weren't dammaged. It was a surreal feeling to be in a room where the Dalai Lama would have received foreign dignitaries, and meditated. The grounds of the Summer Palace are not as beautifully manicured as I had expected, however, there is not enough money to keep things immaculate. The nature of the occupation of Tibet is a contributing factor to this fact as well.
From here, we set off to see the Sera Monestary, one of the largest monestaries in Tibet. This monestary was once home to around 5000 monks, and five colleges of instruction. Today, there are a few hundred monks residing here, and three colleges. It was built in 1419, and fortunately survived the invasion of 1959 relatively unscathed. Here is a picture of a chorten at the Sera Monestary. There are prayer wheels surrounding its base. Pilgrims walk clockwise around the chorten spinning the prayer wheels clockwise. The chorten is symbolically important to the Tibetans. Chortens were first created to hold the cremated relics of the first Bhudda, Sakyamuni. The square base represents the earth, the dome water, the spire fire, and the moon and sun represent air and space.
We entered the main temple, and there sat dozens and dozens of monks praying and chanting, unpreturbed by the visiting tourists. We circled the great hall clockwise as is custom. At the front of the hall are several statues of the different Bhuddas, with white silk scarves thrown on them as offereings from pilgrims. There were also large plates with candles burning yak butter and yak milk, more offerings from the pilgrims. The scent definitely added to the experience! We were not allowed to take pictures in the chapels, however, for a fee that worked out to about $4, we were allowed to take pictures of the monks inside the great hall as they prayed. There is a hierarchy to the rows of monks - the closer to the middle row, and the closer to the alters bearing the Bhudda statues, the higher the rank of the monk. Here's a great picture of the monks praying. Beautiful tapestries hung everywhere. We left the Sera Monestary and grabbed some "babi" at the Tashi 2 restaurant - good stuff! It was sort of like a tortilla wrap, and of course there was some yak meat in there!
The three of us then went off to the Potala Palace. The palace was comissioned by the Fifth Dalai Lama. Known as the greatest of all Dalai Lamas, the Fifth wanted to move his government from the Drepong Monestary to a new location. Worked was started in 1645, and the Dalai Lama moved there upon the completion of the White Palace in 1649. The Red Palace's origins are clouded by different recollections. It is agreed that the Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682, however, the public was not told of his death until after the completion of the Red Palace in 1694. The debate is whether the Dalai Lama had comissioned the Red Palace as a funeral chorten for himself prior to his death, or if it was the regent that comissioned the building after the death of the Dalai Lama. Either way, the body of the Fifth Dalai Lama was the first to be moved to the Red Palace and is housed in a magnificant chorten encrusted with jewels and gold. Every subsequent Dalai Lama is laid to rest in the Potala Palace, and pilgrims come to offer their respect.
We then proceeded to go grocery shopping for the upcoming treks of tomorrow. After ditching our stuff in the hostel room, we headed down to the Jokhang Temple. Surrounding the temple is a pilgrimage circuit, also called a kora, known as the Barkhor. Here, there are several vendors selling everything from t-shirts to yak cheese to prayer wheels. It was amazing to follow the flow of people walking around the temple, praying as they spun their prayer wheels. Children would come and beg, monks would be seated meditating, and at the front of the Jokhang Temple, the pilgrims would kneel, slide forward on their palms, slide back, and stand up repetitively. We entered the temple with several devout Tibetans cramming into the chapels to offer their yak milk and butter, some throwing the white silk scarves on the statues of Bhudda. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the chapels here, but what an amazing experience. The people were so tolerant of foreigners being inside their holy places. It's tragic that the Chinese can't just leave these people to their way of life. The picture to the left shows a view of the Potala Palace from the roof of the Jokhang Temple with a prayer-flag pole in the foreground. Here below is a shot of the roof of the temple. The Wheel of Law is flanked by two deer, and the vases of immortality are made of copper.
The Dutch boys and I walked through the narrow streets off of the Barkhor wandering around aimlessly. Yuo played a bit of footy with some local kids, much to their delight! We met up for supper with Cal, a Brit we met at the Snowlands. The restaurant, the Nam-tso, offered a wide variety of different foods, and I took advantage of it - chicken pizza! I headed back to the hostel for an early night's rest. The trek to Everest begins tomorrow!