second time around

Well the tour has taken a little change in flavor. Our small group (the Chinese Gang of Nine) is to hook up with another group and have a national guide to travel with us. We flew down out of Tibet into a rainy day in Chongqing where we were to board the cruise ship for the three day trip down the Yangtze River. Unfortunately they had just had a monumental rainfall and the river rose almost 50 feet in the past couple of days. So the river was running too fast to bring the ship all the way up to Chongqing and we got to ride the bus for a couple of hours to get to the boat. But first we had the chance to walk in the rain through the “old town” of Chongqing. Since it was completely bombed out in the second world war (“war of Japanese Aggression”) the old town is a fifty year old slum which is squalid and about to be torn down. Not so very historic and definitely not so scenic. The local meat shops did have quite the selection of pig snout on display though. Then on to the restaurant for dinner. Mediocre food with about 200 tourists and poor service. The Gang of Nine was not having much fun. Onto the bus and since now every seat is filled I got the back row which was fine until the woman in front of me slammed her seat back which made the space about 2 inches shorter than my thigh. She would have put it back up, but it got stuck like that so I had a fun ride. When we got to the boarding point I was amazed, they took all these elderly (and some infirm) passengers down about 100 steps of broken, slippery concrete steps in the rain and the dark with one flashlight at the top because they wanted us to see the cables across the path there. Then over the floating walkways for 30 yards or so to the boat. Norb and I immediately went up to the bar to capture a seat, and were almost the only ones there all night, which was fine as the drinks were reasonable and well made.

On the up side the boat was only 5 months old and very nicely fitted out. The food was excellent and plentiful, although a little too western, but still quite good. The weather was not bad, but not good either. Mostly cloudy and misty with not so great visibility. The excursions were a mixed bag, some better than others, but all were herding the cattle out and back. I am just not so comfortable being in large groups. I got a bad impression from the start, because the first one was to the “Ghost City”. Actually it is a 500 year old temple in a town associated with the underworld in Chinese mythology for almost 2000 years. Taoist and Buddhist statues and temples. Unfortunately they are building brand new “antique” temples with it for the tourists, and telling lots of cutesy stories and having the tourists do all the “tests” of the underworld and the final stray is at the end of the walk, entering the 500 year old temple is the table where they have the pictures for sale that they took of you crossing the bridge. Just a little too Disney for my taste. Of interest was the gauntlet of tourist shops had a lot fewer trinkets and everyone sold beer, wine and spirits. I guess they know the cruise ship crowd. The gorges were very nice to see go by, and it was worth the rest of the stuff to enjoy them. We saw the hanging coffin where they don’t really know how the people put the coffin 120 feet up this cliff. I saw some guys building a stone wall at the harbor moving the stones old-school, four of them with each stone being easily 5-600 pounds. They would sing a chant to keep their steps in time and not get the stone swinging. They just kept hauling stone all morning, one after the other.

We went through the locks of the Three Gorges Dam and the final morning had a short trip to the viewpoint over the dam. Mercifully the national guide never found us while on the ship, so we pretty well went our own way. The final morning we called the tour company and she found us and said hello.

On we flew to Shanghai. We got in late and found it to be a very upscale hotel. The next day we did the usual: stroll on the Bund, go up the Jin Mao tower for the view, and the Shanghai Museum. They were all fine. They had clusters of 8 story apartment buildings with different colored roofs. Lunch was fun, we hit a “hot pot” restaurant. Basically Chinese style fondue. A split pot (yin/yang shape) on a burner with mild and spicy side and lots of raw meat, fish and veggies to cook yourself. This was where we found that our group eats all the food on the table and the rest of the tables eat about half. We started getting their extra food (and especially beer) at the meals. The “Gang of Nine” held together pretty well and took it as a compliment when one of the other folks in our larger group mentioned to us, “you all don’t follow the rules much and just go where you want don’t you.” We went to the Chinese Acrobats show in Shanghai and it was impressive. The acrobatics, contortionists, jugglers, jumpers, plate spinners and even the five motorcycles in the cage of death at the same time were at least as good as the Cirque du Soleil. In Shanghai they have lots of buildings with the entire side being a light show screen with patterns at night. We are talking 40-50 story high buildings.

Our tour excursion was to a couple of gardens where you can enjoy the feng shui and find some peace and tranquility. After the extensive talk, talk, talk about the place we were given ten minutes to explore on our own so that we could “experience the peace.” It was just me and the garden and 400 or so of my closest travel companions. Then we went to the silk factory which was very interesting to see how they actually get the silk and reel it and weave it. Then surprisingly there was the opportunity to buy silk quilts and such. After that we had a trip to Tongli a small town called “the Venice of the East.” too much touristy for me.

Up at 0-dark-thirty to catch the plane to Hong Kong and meet our final guide for the rest of that day. “Erik” (all the guides pick an american name for the tourists to be able to call them something they can pronounce) was running on too many espressos. He flew us all around the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island for the day and left our heads spinning. But I did get to see Jackie Chan’s hilltop estate on Hong Kong Island. Erik pointed it out about five times with a very loud “JACKIE CHAN” each time.

Today is the final day in China and five of us wandered around on our own. We checked out the flower market, bird gallery street and navigated the subway to the wharf where we hopped the ferry to Hong Kong Island for 30 cents. At 8 PM every night they have a laser symphony light show from the buildings on the harbor. It was great. Now we have all said our goodbyes and are off on our own paths again. I am flying to Tokyo and then to see the son.

And just to ease your fears, no I didn’t use a ladder to get here. The time in Tibet has been wonderful. After the usual delay for the flight from Chengdu to Lhasa we arrived and met our local guide, Pema. The first night we spent in a small town called Tse Tang. On the way there we stopped in a small village the visited a local home. Pema explained that he picks different families all the time, so they don’t get jaded with visitors. The grandmother was carrying the granddaughter on her back while she fixed us some butter tea and bread. The butter tea is: Yak butter, a little tea leaf, hot water and salt. It was not greasy, but kind of “earthy” tasting. Pema said the nomads average 40 cups a day. I don’t think I could do that much, though it wasn’t so bad. They use Yak butter for tea, cooking, eating and to fuel candles. The Tibetans smile a lot and are happy to respond to and offer up “Tash delay” which is “hello”. Pema told us that if one knocks on a door in a village they will just invite you in and feed you. The hotel was fine, and the next morning we visited a local Temple/Monastery. After that we had a three hour bus ride and up a seriously winding switchback road to Khampa La (La means pass) at 15,700 feet for a scenic view of a beautiful lake. I passed on the “get your picture on a Yak”. I did use the public toilet there and it was a transcendental experience, though not in a particularly good way, the odor was something to behold, and that kind of altitude does have an effect. Then we had the three hour ride back to Lhasa the capital and largest city in Tibet.

It is interesting to be in a place where the signs are in Chinese and Tibetan but not any English. I went to the ATM and then the bank to get smaller notes, and it was fun using sign language to explain that. Monday was a busy day, we visited the Jokhang Temple which is considered the holiest temple in Tibet and walked around the “Barkhor” or Pilgrim’s Circuit. Pema explained that some Tibetans do a Prostrate Pilgrimage to this temple from their home city. That involves a mantra while stretching out prostrate and then walking as far as you reached and doing it again. It can take from one to two years to accomplish. Once they arrive at the temple they go around it three times on the Barkor and then go inside and finish in front of an original 7th century statue of Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama). This is one of two statues that the Tibetan king received as dowry from his Chinese Princess and Nepalese Princess wife.

The spirituality in Tibet is palpable. Not to say that ALL the people are deeply into their faith, but enough are that you feel it in the air. Many monks, people with prayer wheels, prayer flags everywhere and a general sense of calm and peace. At the temples there are monks and artists working on Thangka, which are multilayered usually religious paintings. The minute detail is unbelievable. It might take a year or more for a single painting. The insides of the temples are very ornately decorated, and every inch is covered with paintings, cloths, and statues. There are always many people prostrating and praying, chanting mantras. The statues are of the incarnations of the Dalai Lama and of Buddha and various Buddhist deities.

After lunch we went on to the Potala Palace. It was originally built in the 7th century by Songtsen Gampo and then taken over by the fifth incarnation of the Dalai Lama who ended the civil war and unified the Tibetan People. Every incarnation of the Dalai Lama lived there up until the current (14th) fled Tibet in 1959. The palace was slowly destroyed by natural forces and earthquakes until it was rebuilt on a more solid foundation in the 17th Century. The place is quite large and impressive. 380 steps to climb up which at 11,700 feet altitude is a bit of a challenge. The inside of the Potala was spectacular. No pictures are allowed inside, but let me tell you it is something. Room after room of statues and holy books and chapels. Mostly gold or silver, wood covered in carvings, stone with gems, all very old and with history behind them. The bodies of several of the previous incarnations of the Dalai Lama are in crypts along with many of their belongings. The fifth Dalai Lama’s crypt is 500 kilograms of gold, the 13th I think it was, is nearly 4000 kilograms of gold. They have many, many bowls of Yak butter with wicks in them burning and the Tibetans place Yak butter donations into them and money donations in piles at various statues while they pray.

I have to say that Tibet is the highlight of the China trip and maybe the whole trip. It was a chance to see some real people who live a very different life and not to feel like I was going to a Disney show put on for the tourists. The Tibetans see us watching them, but weren’t putting on a “traditional ceremony” for us.

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