Showing posts with label China. Show all posts

An Hour in Tibet

I left Chengdu around 4AM and headed to the airport. I was ecstatic although I was quite sleepy at the same time. The reason for my excitement was the connecting flight to Kathmandu. I had a one hour layover in Lhasa, Tibet.

Tibet has always been part of my dream destination list. I tried to look for a cheap way to go there when I was still in Chengdu last August 2009, but the cheapest I found was around $200 including the Tibetan Permit. I think it’s already cheap because most Tibet tours that I saw online were more than a thousand bucks.

Some facts about Tibet from Wikipedia

“Tibet is a plateau region in Asia and disputed territory, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average elevation of 4,900 metres (16,000 ft). It is sometimes referred to as the roof of the world.”

One thing that did not appeal to me was the itinerary. I’m not sure if I have to follow that or what. I was never fond of booking a tour with any travel agencies and following their itineraries. I love having my own freedom of going when I want to. I’ve read though in some forums that it’s just for formality, no one really follows it.

As soon as we arrived in Lhasa, we were welcomed with smiling airport staff. Even the Immigration officers were happy compared to other airports were you’ll find a lot of grumpy Immigration officers. I wasn’t sure if it has to do with the altitude of the airport (LOL) maybe it’s the altitude sickness that makes them happy.

I was still sleepy and I headed straight to the smoking area to kill some time. I was amazed with the view of the smoking area. This is so far, the most breathtaking view that I’ve seen while in a smoking area. I saw the mountains and some clouds that were just hovering over the airport. It’s like you could almost touch them. And no, I don’t think I was hallucinating because of the altitude.

After an hour of waiting, it was boarding time at last. I only spent an hour inside Tibet. I’ll make sure that I won’t miss this controversial land on my next trip.

And by the way, when you take the Chengdu to Kathmandu (via Lhasa flight), there's a big chance that you'll also see Mt. Everest (if it's not too cloudy).

Chengdu: City of Panda

It was around the third week of August 2009 when I was in Kangding. I remember that I was contemplating if I’m going to retrace my route to Litang or head on to Chengdu. I allotted almost two weeks for my “Kunming to Chengdu Overland Adventure” trip before heading on to Nepal. I realized that I was actually five days ahead of my schedule.

However, I’m running out of money as well, so I decided to head on to Chengdu to stay with a friend. I got a generous offer to stay to Dhane’s house and it would be a big help to my dwindling budget. And besides, I figured that I missed seeing an urban jungle.

I left my hostel early in the morning and waited in the bus station for almost an hour. We boarded and after a few hours I started seeing traces of the concrete jungle. And then after a couple more hours, buildings started to rose from the horizon.

I was kind of excited. I’ve only been to a few quite cities (Guilin, Hong Kong, Macau and Kunming) and I didn’t spend much time. I’ve had almost a week to spend in Chengdu, enough time to get to know the city.

Some facts about Chengdu from Wikipedia

“Chengdu is located in southwest People's Republic of China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a sub-provincial city. Chengdu is also one of the most important economic centers, transportation and communication hubs in Southwestern China. According to the 2007 Public Appraisal for Best Chinese Cities for Investment, Chengdu was chosen as one of the top ten cities to invest in out of a total of 280 urban centers in China.”

I stayed in a hostel on my first day. The hostel was in a very good location in respect to the tourism business. Just right across the road was one of the most visited tourist spots, the reconstructed Jinli Street.

The 350 meter Jinli Street looks like a historic town. You could see buildings in old Chinese site. Historically, Jinli Street came about in the Qing Dynasty and was known as the “First Street of the Shu Kingdom.”

Now the street is full of modern shops enclosed in traditional buildings that give the visitors the ambiance of Old China with the convenience of the modern world.

Aside from the Jinli Street, I also visited numerous temples though I couldn’t remember their names. Whenever I go to a new place, I always make sure that I go to their markets. I go there to shop, but most of the time, just to observe the local life.

I went to one of their dry markets and it’s massive. I was walking down the street and I saw a guy selling a tiger paw. WTF!!! I thought tigers are endangered. LOL!

I also went to their commercial shopping district and man, the goods and overflowing. There’re shoppers everywhere, it’s like there was no recession at all in that area.

The market that I enjoyed the most was the Antique Market. You would see that in your Chengdu Map. It was full of old and interesting Chinese relics and some old books. There were few shoppers though, maybe consumers would rather have modern day stuff.

After doing my usual temple and market hopping activities, I’ve decided that it’s about time to see the Pandas. I love animals and seeing the Panda would be like the cherry on top of my traveling ice cream.

I checked the price of the Panda tour and it was way beyond my budget. I asked the hostel receptionist if they have anything cheaper than that. And then she said that I could buy the Panda Card for only 1 Yuan and then go there myself. I could save 50 Yuan ($7) for the entrance, plus I could go to other tourist sites as well for free.

Wow! My eyes widened!!! I went back to Dhane’s place and invited his two other guests to see the Panda the next day.

Due to sheer laziness or perhaps just plain stupidity, I couldn't figure out how to add a video on this blog so I'll just post the Youtube link here. Click Here to view the video.

Some Travel Tips in Chengdu

1. Get the Panda Card in the supermarket across Jinli Street. It could save you a lot of money.
2. Utilize the buses, Chengdu has an efficient network of buses that could take you anywhere in the city for a cheap price (1-2 Yuan).
3. If you’re interested to buy some travel gears or electronics, Chengdu has a lot of cheap stores that you could check. You can find them also on your tourist maps.
4. For those who are traveling from the Philippines, you could fly direct via Philippine Airlines to Chengdu.
5. Alternatively, you could fly from Kuala Lumpur via Air Asia to Chengdu
6. There are water dispensers in most hostels, and you could save some money by just refilling your water containers.

Hell Bus from Xiangcheng to Kangding

I woke up around 4AM and checked out of the hostel. The ticket booth didn’t sell us any ticket the day before and asked us to buy it that morning. It was really cold and dark. I walked straight to the small house of the ticket seller with my backpack. It wasn’t open yet. All the other backpackers that were on the same bus were also waiting there, as well as some Chinese locals.

It opened after almost an hour and to our surprised, they started selling it out to local people first, regardless if we’re the first one on queue. A lot of travelers were aggravated by the act, but what could you do right? There were no other ticket sellers in Xiangcheng and there would probably be just one or two buses going to Kangding.

After waiting for almost half an hour, I got my ticket and headed down to where the bus was parked. It was already full except for one window seat at the back. I went up quietly and settled down at the back together with some old Chinese guys. Two other tourists went up and they were asked to go down the bus, they were also boarding Chinese people first. Good thing I look like Chinese.

After noticing it, I didn’t bother to speak at all. I didn’t know if there were any other buses going to Kangding that day and I took my chance to stay on the bus even if I was the only tourist.

The bus left after a few minutes and we started the worst bus experience I’ve ever had.

The windows were closed to shield the passengers from the cold winds. The old guys that I’m sitting with decided to smoke inside the bus. Uugggh! I do smoke myself but not in a small, cramped space like a bus. They also spit from time to time on the floor. Sometimes they open the window to spit, and some spit particles go to my face.

Good thing I was wearing a hoodie. It was meant to protect me from the chilly winds but I figured that it could also protect me from some spit particles flying in the air. They took turns in spitting and I was literally stepping on a floor full of green, slimy spit from different people.

The road was bumpy as well and I was sitting on the worst part of the bus. Every time we encounter a big bump, it was like we’re flying off our chairs. I couldn’t count how many times I bumped my head on the overhead thingy of the bus.

It was halfway when I thought that I wanted to get off the bus. I just couldn’t take it anymore. However, I didn’t want to waste the money that I paid and at the same time, there’s a big chance that there would be no bus.

I’ve read in some internet articles that it’s dangerous to just wander off in the mountains and grasslands in that area because of the presence of some wild animals. I’m really not sure if that’s true but I didn’t take my chance. I stayed inside the bus for almost ten hours.

The only thing that kept me sane during the whole trip was the view. It was utterly incredible. As I’ve mention in my previous post, seeing Southwestern China is like watching National Geographic live.

I’ve seen rolling green grasslands, huge mountains of rocks, huge boulders, hundreds or thousands of yaks, some Tibetan kids running playfully on jagged slopes of the mountain. I’ve also seen small Tibetan villages and a couple of Tibetan monasteries.

It was a scene that I could only imagine before.

We arrived in Kangding at night time and I couldn’t believe that after a trip through the wild side of China, I would see a cluster of what seemed to be a very developed and commercialized city.

Kangding has hotels, clubs, shops and of course some local Tibetan stores. Kangding is the capital of the Garze Tibetan Autonomous prefecture in the province of Sichuan. It seems to be the gateway to Tibetan tourism if you’re coming from Chengdu.

I checked myself in a cheap hostel and bought some instant noodles for dinner.

As I was relieving myself from hunger, I couldn’t help but smile as my mind wanders off through the magnificent landscape that I saw and the adventure that I’ve had on my “Kunming to Chengdu Backdoor Overland” plan.

I would definitely go back again to Southwestern China and spend more time in the Tibetan Villages.

Bus from Shangri-La to Xiangcheng

I left my room around 4AM and waited for another 30 minutes before the caretaker opened the door. The wind was cold and it was still dark. I was deciding if I’m going to walk from my hostel to the bus station or not which was a bit far. I took a taxi instead and I arrived at the bus station around 5AM. There were a few backpackers at that time lounging around the waiting area.

I waited for a couple more hours and we were finally called to board the bus. I was afraid that I might be the only tourist inside the bus but I was wrong. Half of the bus was occupied by backpackers from different countries.

We stopped after a couple of hours for a bathroom break. The bus didn’t have any portable toilet inside. I went out the bus and I was surprised. I just saw the most amazing landscape that I’ve ever seen in my life. China is the most beautiful country that I have ever seen in my life. Seeing China’s Southwestern area was like watching National Geographic live.

After the break we went on again, as we crisscrossed different mountains, I couldn’t help but smile. The world is really beautiful and I feel so lucky that I could travel. I felt that this was the best decision that I’ve ever made in my life.

After two or three hours we stopped again. I looked outside the window to check what’s going on. It seemed that there were a couple more local buses in front of us. Some of the passengers got off to check what’s going on. Curious as I was, I also went down.

A small bus got stuck in the mud. Everyone’s helping to dug up the bus and pulled it to a more stable ground. After half an hour, they were able to pull the bus out. Our bus overtook the two local buses and drove thru the muddy dirt road.

And it got stuck as well. The piled stones that were used to help the other bus were no use to our bus, maybe because our bus is bigger and heavier.

Most of us helped to dig the bus out of the mud. We were all gathering stones and throwing it to the dirt road so that the bus’s tires could have something solid to grasp on. It was a funny and tiring moment. After almost an hour, the bus was able to pass by. Everyone who helped was full of dirt, mud and small debris.

It was funny inside the bus. The local Tibetans and Chinese were teasing us because we’re full of mud and dirt. And we were all laughing. It was surreal because no one was using the same language and yet we could understand what’s going on. It was another perfect moment of human harmony, I was thinking. The language barrier didn’t block us from communicating what we felt. The smiles and laughter made the experience very memorable.

It was almost dark when we arrived in Xiangcheng. The town is like a city in the making. Even though it’s pretty inaccessible due to remoteness, there were a lot of new buildings already. The road inside the county is paved and there were commercial shops and banks.

We all checked in the same hostel. I found out that all backpackers inside the bus were heading to Chengdu, same as my itinerary. But we’re stopping to some Tibetan villages along the way for some tourist sightseeing.

This Chinese road trip was turning out to be a very good experience.

Here are some pictures from my bus trip from Shangri-La to Xiangcheng

Dreaming of Shangri-La

It was raining when I arrived in Kunming around mid August of this year. I immediately checked myself in a cheap backpacker’s hostel together with an Israeli couple that I met on the bus. The hostel was great, the staff were all English speaking and there’s a lot of useful travel books and brochures that you can borrow regarding traveling in Yunnan and Sichuan province.

Kunming is an average size city. I spent a couple of days walking around the city, hopping from one bus to another while deciding if I would go to Lijiang or to Shangri-La. Yes, you heard it right, Shangri-La. It used to be just a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton. But now China has adapted the name, maybe for tourism purposes.

Some facts about Shangri-La from Wikipedia

“Shangri-La County is primarily Tibetan county in northwestern Yunnan Province in southwest China and the capital of Diqing Tibetan Autonomus Prefecture. The town was formerly known as Zhongdian County.”

After a couple of days of lounging around the laidback city of Kunming, I had decided that Shangri-La would be my next stop. I’ve always wanted to go to Tibet but since I wouldn’t be able to afford it, I might as well go to other Tibetan villages which wouldn’t require the highly sought after Tibetan permit.

I took an overnight bus from Kunming to Shangri-La. I couldn’t remember how much I paid though but I’m sure it wouldn’t break your bank. There are several ways to go to Shangri-La. You can either fly directly or take a bus from Kunming, Lijiang, Dali or Deqin.

I met two other tourists from Switzerland inside the bus. Both of them already had a reserved hostel in Shangri-La which made me worried a bit. I didn’t have a place to stay yet. But what the heck! I thought I would just figure it out when I arrive there.

As soon as we arrived, we immediately went out and were surprised with how cold it is. I really don’t like cold places but it didn’t stop me from being excited in experiencing Shangri-La.

We shared a wagon like vehicle which brought us to the old town. The old town is primarily inhabited by Tibetans and it’s also the backpackers’ area in that town. It seemed like Shangri-La is divided into two areas, one is inhabited by Han Chinese and the other by Tibetans.

The county center seems to be gearing towards modern development. You’ll see a lot of new buildings, modern shops like laptop and mobile phone stores and some other stuff. The interesting thing was, you would see Tibetans dressed in their local clothes using modern technology like mobile phones.

I found a very cheap hostel which cost me only 30 Yuan or approximately $4. There were two beds inside the room, and it could have been cheaper if I found someone to share the room with. What a waste right?

The old town is full of souvenir shops. I was shocked to see some stores selling fur. I thought they were prohibited already. There’re cheap food stalls that served barbequed food in the middle of the city center too. I personally like the grilled wild mushrooms, the vendor in her limited English words told me that it came from the mountains. It was awesome!!! I couldn’t describe how it tasted but it’s really delicious and cheap.

There’re some tourist agencies as well offering trips to Lhasa or camping excursion to the Tibetan wilderness. It could have been great if Flip could afford it. But Flip couldn’t.

I stayed up until nightfall in the center of the old town doing what a usual traveler does, people watching. And then they started playing some Tibetan folk songs. They cleared the center from all the vendors, and the locals started dancing.

The act attracted a lot of tourists as well. After a few minutes, the center was filled with people dancing to the Tibetan hymn.

I couldn’t explain the emotion that I felt while watching them dance. Their faces were happy and calm. No trace of worries for the inevitable future. It’s a face of contentment and happiness that we’ve all been dreaming about.

I wanted to join them dance but I was glued on my seat. They danced maybe for an hour or more. As they were enjoying the rhythm of their folk music, I was enjoying observing everything.

And there it was, a perfect moment. For once in my life, I felt I was present. For once in my life, I felt I was not living in my past or future thoughts.

For once in my life, I felt free and alive. And it all happened just by listening to their hymns and watching their movements.

Weird, yeah I think. Surreal, definitely! Though I would give up everything just to feel that calmness and serenity again.

The following day, I took a bus and headed up north to see and experience more Tibetan culture.