Seein' the Laos countryside from the back of a Hog (or Japanese moped thing, anyway)

Hi all--

The day after our adventure on the river, we found a place to rent a small motorbike in Luang Nam Tha. It was ridiculously cheap at 40,000 kip (~$4.50) a day, so we headed out of town in several directions to see the countryside. Alright, I admit it.... it didn't start out as smoothly as I want to make it sound. You see, I'd never driven a motorcycle before. The very poor directions I received from the guy renting the bikes (language barrier, you see) helped a little, but it took some practice to make it work somewhat well. Everyone around here zips around on these things like they've been driving them since they were 3 (and some have been), but for a big clumsy foreigner it was a little different. Anyway, I eventually got the hang of it, and off we went. Sarah is very trusting.... =)


Matt! at Wat Ban Vieng Tai, Luang Nam Tha

We checked out several of the nearby Wats (Buddhist temples). They are usually placed in a prominent location on a hill, so they have great views of the surrounding area. The second Wat we visited, That Phum Phuk, had an awesome long staircase with dragons for each hand rail -- head at the bottom and tail at the top. We spent a long time up there looking out over the rice paddies and fields. The clouds building behind us finally started some pretty ominous rumbling, so we booked it back the 10 kilometers to town anticipating some rain. We were disappointed in that respect, but it turned out to be a beautiful evening.

One of the best things about Laos so far has been the lack of traffic. I walked along the main highway yesterday for 30 minutes and wasn't passed by a single car or truck -- only a couple bikes. It really is amazing, especially after countries like China and most Latin American countries where the traffic is non-stop, scary, and doesn't pay attention to pedestrians. So Laos seemed like a good place to rent the bike for that reason, too.


Cruisin' in Laos



Wat That Phum Phuk



Yesterday was a big travel day, so not much to report there. We missed the direct bus to Luang Prabang (it left 45 minutes early -- go figure), so we had to wait around for 3 hours for another bus going to a stop a few hours down the road and then catch another from there. The ride was supposed to take 10 - 11 hours, but only covered a ridiculously short distance on the map. Once we got underway it was easy to see why. We were on the main highway, which was a paved road only in the vaguest of sense -- a little bit of pavement every once in a while, otherwise all huge potholes and rocks. Plus, the bus had no shocks and we were sitting in the back. We almost hit the roof a couple of times! Always an adventure in places like this.... Needless to say, we were glad to get out of that bus. The second bus was equally bad, but the road was a tad better and we were able to drive faster.

We didn't arrive in Luang Prabang until about 11pm, so we've spent most of today hanging out and walking around. I'll write more about this beautiful town tomorrow or the next day.

Oh! I added a few photos to the posts on Dali, China and River Runnin'. Check 'em out!

Later!
Matt!

River Runnin' on the Nam Ha River

Hi folks-

We got back last night from a great couple of days in Nam Ha National Protected Area. We managed to scrounge up a group (OK, more like we were scrounged ourselves) big enough to make the cost of this guided trip really reasonable. There were 8 of us; Sarah and I, a pair from Quebec, a guy from Poland, a girl from Sweden, and a pair from England (well, one of them was technically from the Isle of Man, but that's close enough to England). The hardest accent of the entire group to understand was the guy from Northeast England. =)




Northern Laos


We loaded up into a truck and drove about 20 kilometers out of town, where we were dropped off on the side of the road by a small village. The people living here are Lenten, an ethnic group that emigrated to the areas from Yunnan China a few hundred years ago. It was your typical third world village scene; chickens, naked children, thatched huts, dogs, and cattle. An old woman (at least I'm assuming she was old -- village life is pretty hard on a body) was making paper out of bamboo pulp, so that was neat. From there we hiked up the mountain side, passing through hillsides of slash and burn agriculture -- some fairly fresh, with charred trunks of trees still littering the fields. The main crops up in the hills seem to be corn, cotton, indigo, and various fruit or sap producing trees.


Bamboo paper making, Khmu village, Laos

We slowly left behind the farmed hillsides and entered into secondary forest filled with bamboo and tall but skinny trees. Bird life in here was vocal but very obviously hidden. The hike continued steadily upward for a few hours until we reached the ridge (and older forest). Here the guides set out a Lao lunch feast, all laid out on banana leaves cut from the jungle. Everyone got a packet of sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf, and the meal was eaten with our hands from communal piles on the "table". There was an awesome salsa (the Lao know how to do spicy), a squash dish, steamed greens with ginger, and dried strips of water buffalo meat. It was an awesome meal! After doing the dishes (i.e. tossing the banana leaves back into the jungle), we continued down the other side of the ridge, eventually coming out of the jungle at a little village along the Nam Ha River and within the protected area. This was a Khmu village, whose ancestors hail from Cambodia. There weren't a lot of villagers living in the village, as they have been slowly been moving to a newer village established downstream where the Lao government built a school. All of the villages within the National Protected Area are in charge of managing their area, with the intention of somewhat sustainably living off the land without deforesting it and killing all the animals. They also benefit directly from visits like ours, since we spent the night in their "lodge" (bamboo hut). Part of our fees for the trek go directly to the village. We spent the afternoon swimming in the river and hanging out with the kids and pot-bellied pigs. I attempted some pathetically bad bird watching, but the real highlight of the evening was the dinner; a similar affair to the lunch but prepared by the villagers over the course of three hours. This great meal was followed by some lao lao (rice whiskey) shots handed out by the village chief. It actually tasted pretty good! Especially the fifth shot.... =)

A Lao lunch!





Sarah at our home for the night

We slept on the floor under mosquito nets and woke early. The villagers and livestock were awake and noisy by 5am, but the foreigners slept in; Sarah and I were the first up by 6am. Once again I attempted to birdwatch, but ended up very frustrated. I expected your typical difficult jungle birding, but wasn't prepared for seeing almost nothing at all (literally) for the whole first day and the next morning. Grrr.... I think part of the problem is the season. Birds are really hunkered down on nests or singing from deep in the brush.


Lenten children, Laos




After breakfast we bid farewell to the villagers and headed off downstream in the kayaks. The water was fantastic -- easy kayaking along a beautiful river. We stopped briefly at another Lenten village where we did a lot of standing around -- we're still not sure what that was about. My camera also decided to break, so I'll have to get a new one or get it fixed soon. Once back on the water, the forest quickly closed in, and for 15 kilometers we paddled through undisturbed jungle. The steep slopes of the surrounding mountains were covered in huge trees and amazing bamboo that climbed the tree trunks and then cascaded down in beautiful spills of greenery. Pretty fantastic. The water was pretty sedate -- there were quite a few small rapids, but nothing big. Sarah had a great time in her kayak. I could tell by the big grin on her face she was loving the ride. We swam a couple times in calm stretches. During the lunch break I finally ended up with a land leech on my foot! Sarah doesn't think these are nearly as big a deal as I do, but I was pleasantly surprised that there weren't many on our trek. Yuck!




Water Buffalo in the Nam Ha River


When we finally left the park, we landed at a village near a dirt road and took that back into town. It was great to get back and take a shower and wash some clothes in the sink. We drank a nice cold, big bottle of Beerlao with our dinner and celebrated our trip (and the fact that we don't live in villages like we visited....).




Our traveling companion, Gandalf the Pastel


I did end up seeing a few birds, such as a Besra (a hawk), Black-crested Bulbul, White-rumped Munia, Green-billed Malkoha, Blyth's Kingfisher, Marron Oriole, White-rumped Magpie, Little Spiderhunter, and Slaty-backed Forktail. That's literally about it. Beautiful, but not plentiful.


-Matt!

China, in hindsight

Hi all--

Well, after a marathon 24 hours of buses, tuk tuks (bicycle taxis), etc, we arrived in Luang Nam Tha, Laos. Our sleeper bus proved to be quite a sight better than our train experience, with beds that we could (almost) stretch completely out in. Sarah especially seemed to enjoy it. She'd been anticipating another very rough night, but it wasn't bad at all. We did make a couple inexplicable 30 minute stops where everyone just stood around smoking, but other than that, things went smoothly. Though the bus driver seemed to be avoiding the better and straighter highway in favor of very bumpy and curvy side roads at times.... maybe to avoid toll booths? I'm not sure.

We were on the sleeper bus from Dali for 13 hours, got off in Jinghong, bought some dumplings for breakfast, got on another bus for 4 hours to Mengla, rode in the back of a bicycle across town, got on another bus to Boten at the border, spent an hour doing Visa and immigration stuff, rode a motorbike across the official border, then caught a mini-van from Mohan, Laos, to Puang Nam Tha (2 hours). Whew! I was amazed at the large superhighway that is mainly completed heading down to (and through) the border. There were sections that were open and went through tunnel after tunnel through the mountains, while other sections were still being built (where we took curvy older roads). This massive infrastructure build-up by China is to increase trade and commerce with Thailand, and Laos is sort of gettng swept along since it lies between the two.

I was feeling like I wasn't quite ready to leave China, but once we got on the move, it made sense to get going. Now that I'm in Laos, I'm glad we made the change. China was quite an experience and I'm glad we went, but the feeling here in SE Asia is different and better. It's also cheaper!

Looking back at China, Sarah and I both agreed that the things we saw there (Great Wall, Lijiang, and Tiger Leaping Gorge in particular) we couldn't experience any other way, and for that reason alone were worth the trip. Things we won't miss about China are the incessant smoking in restaurants and on public transport, the nasty bathroom trenches (though these will continue in SE Asia), the heavy smog in the central areas of the country, and for the most part, the food. Things we will miss are the genuine smiles and hellos people give out so freely, the "Chinglish" translations (I'll give you an example later), the amazing mountains in the Yunnan Province, and our days in Lijiang, Xi'an, and on the gorge trek. Beijing was also a highlight for its alleyways (hutongs) and some of its sights.

It was interesting being an American in China. We think of China as a communist country, but in many ways it is one of the most capitalist countries in existence. I have never before experienced the massive build-up that a lot of China is currently undergoing -- with massive shopping malls, grocery stores, skyscrapers, etc etc etc etc going up around every corner. China really does seem to be pushing its 1.3 billion people steadily toward the "American Dream", with cell phones and expensive cars and designer clothes. This lifestyle is unsustainable enough with the 300 million Americans trying for it. The Chinese Dragon is rearing its head. The next few decades will be interesting, to say the least. Meanwhile, the government is able to restrict freedoms that Americans take for granted, like the freedom of speech (television and the Internet to name a couple examples). It's a pretty intriguing society that can restrict basic liberties such as freedom of speech while at the same time giving its people all the consumer goods they could possibly want. Hmmm..... just the musings of a wandering mind.

It's currently raining like mad here in Luang Nam Tha. The clouds and humidity were building all day and finally decided to dump it all in the last 20 minutes. I think this is the sort of pattern we should expect for the next couple months, as we travel through Southeast Asia and into Nepal and India.

We're going to be on a trek in the mountains for the next couple of days. We start out tomorrow with a 6 hour hike into Nam Ha National Protected Area, and will spend the night in a village. The next day we're going to kayak down the Nam Ha river and will be back in town late in the afternoon. There's a rumor there might be good birds around, too. =) I did see two Cinnamon Bittern, some kind of snipe, and some Scaly-breasted Munias today, by the way.

In signing off, I promised a little "Chinglish". This is from a package of "birdy taste broad beans" that I bought (they were gross): "Storage Method: Defend heat, defend tide, defend to squeeze." Got it? Now you know how to store this product! Here's another example that my friend Gordon sent me: http://www.engrish.com/detail.php?imagename=toilet-beard-know.jpg&category=CHINGLISH&date=2007-11-14

Alrighty. Love to you all! Off to walk back to the guesthouse in the rain!

-Matt!

Dali, Yunnan Province

From Tiger Leaping Gorge, we headed back to Lijiang for another night, then hopped on a bus bound for Dali. Dali is another tourist city like Lijiang, but doesn't feel nearly as genuine or real. A lot of it has been rebuilt in the old style to attract tourists. It's pretty enough, but after Lijiang it falls a little flat. Perhaps we should have gone here first! People here are more aggressive with selling whatever it is they are trying to sell, which is irritating. This is also the first place in China that we have been constantly approached by locals (always older women) trying to sell us "smoka the ganja?". Pot grows as a weed all over around here, so it's no wonder why someone had the thought to sell it to foreigners. No thanks on that one. Chinese prison doesn't sound too fun to me.

Evening by the North pond


South Gate all lit up


All this being said, Dali is a nice enough place, and we spent much of the day wandering around the back streets and in the local vegetable market. There are a lot of yummy things for sale here, including live frogs, eels, lamprey, catfish, larvae, snakes and snails. Apparently all of these are pretty tasty, but Sarah hasn't convinced me to try any yet. Though the larvae kebobs do look pretty enticing....

We're going to spend tomorrow morning exploring the edges of Lake Erhai Hu and adjacent villages and rice paddies by bicycle. The valley the city is located in is gorgeous, green and surrounded by big mountains with temples and pagodas, so I'm sure we'll find something interesting to see. On the bus ride in yesterday, I was happy to see my first "waterbirds" of the trip, including Pheasant-tailed Jacana and several species of egrets. An exciting surprise was a Common Hoopoe flying across the road. For all you non-birders, you should do a Google Image Search for this bird. It's pretty awesome.




We have a 15-hour sleeper bus ride out of here tomorrow evening. We're booked for the "beds" on the seond deck. I don't even think we can stand up! Should be interesting. We've decided to skip Kunming and head straight down to Jinghong, a tropical town right on the border of Burma and Laos. We expect to cross into Laos a couple days from now. We've enjoyed the cool temperatures thus far, and I know we'll look back on them with longing after a few weeks in the steamy tropics. That being said though, we're really excited to get into Southeast Asia. Onward to adventure!

-Matt!

Yunnan Province -- Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge

Greetings from beautiful Yunnan Province! We've finally left the smog and big cities behind and have found a beautiful, cool, green, mountainous place in China. We can (literally) breathe better here. As I mentioned in the last post, we flew into Lijiang at night and so didn't get a taste of the area until the morning. Lijiang is the "stronghold" of the Naxi culture, a small ethnic group in this area with distinct dress, culture, writing, and architecture. In fact, Naxi is the only written language still in use in the world that uses hieroglyphics! Naxi buildings are made of stone and wood, and have graceful, curved roofs made of slate tiles. Old town Lijiang is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it was easy to see why. It's probably the most beautiful city we've ever seen -- trumping other amazing old cities like Antigua (Guatemala), Cuzco (Peru), and Santa Fe, NM. The small alleyways are completely paved with rock blocks, and wind around branches of a stream. Only foot traffic is allowed, and the alleys splay out in interesting directions, making it a delight to get lost in. There are hordes of Chinese tourists here, but that hardly detracts from the place. What a treat to spend a few days here.

One of the other reasons to visit this part of China is to trek Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the deepest gorges in the world. From the towering peaks on each side, steep cliffs drop a staggering 3900 meters (12,500 feet) to the raging river at the bottom. The Grand Canyon is only about 5000 feet deep.... It really has to be seen to be believed. A tiger supposedly leapt across the river in the gorge back in the day, and that's how it got its name. The trek starts in a little village called Qiaotou and gradually makes its way up to about 3000 feet above the river, passing through scrub, forest, small villages, and terraced crops all clinging to the steep slope. Occasionally, we could catch glimpses downstream and see the edge of the Tibetan Plateau rising toward Llasa and the Himalayas. There were parts of the trail that were quite challenging (we'll remember the "24 Bends" for a long time), but by the end of the day we'd reached a village called Bendiwan, almost 20 kilometers down the trail. A local has tuned his home into a small guesthouse called the Halfway Lodge, and our cheap, nice room had a million dollar view. The cliffs across the way were over 5000 feet high and had huge waterfalls cascading down them. As we ate dinner, the almost-full moon rose between the jagged peaks. We lucked out with weather, since it had been very rainy for the last few days. Most of our hike the first day was beautiful and cool -- with one 20-minute hard downpour (thankfully) right after we finished the 24 Bends. During the night the clouds moved in and it rained hard for several hours. This helped us make the decision to take the trail from the village down to the road at the bottom of the canyon and catch a ride out, since these kind of rains frequently wash out the road a little further up. We ran the risk of getting stuck or having to hike all the way back out...

Now for a few bird sightings, since up until now the birding has been so poor. Lijiang itself proved to be pretty birdy. A few birds here included White Wagtail, Black-throated Tit, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike, Japanese White-eye, Little Grebe, Black-headed Sibia, to name a few. Tiger Leaping Gorge proved to be great for birds as well. Some I saw here included Grandala, Daurian Jackdaw, Blue Rock Thrush, Scaly Thrush, Sooty-headed Bulbul, Black Bulbul (both the black headed and white headed forms), Godlewski's Sparrow, Robin Accentor, Grey Bushchat, and Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon. The green pigeon was especially awesome. Sarah has proved to have both a better spotting eye than me and good attention to field marks, so she's helped me find quite a few of the species.

All for now! Thanks!
-Matt!

Xi'an and the Terracota Warriors

Our next stop was Xi'an, the former capitol of the Chinese emperors and a damn fine city nowadays. It is certainly a big city (the size of Phoenix), but the central area (surrounded by an intact, huge ancient wall was really fun to spend time in. Most of the old buildings have disappeared and been replaced by huge shopping malls and hotels, but there were many side streets lined with huge trees, as well as parks and walking areas. We took a stroll along the park just outside of the wall one evening and were treated to many, many Chinese out using the park's exercise equipment (including stationary bikes!). Others (especially older women) were simply dancing around to the somewhat traditional music coming from across the creek. Many of the old temples are still in place, such as the Bell and Drum Towers (which announce dawn and dusk with -- you guessed it -- either bells or drums) and several pagodas. There is a mosque in the Muslim Quarter that looks very, very Chinese. The Muslim Quarter was one of the best places to wander around, with close streets, trees, food vendors, and lots of activity. We ate in a little mom and pop place and had yangrou paomo, a traditional Muslim dish from the area. It is a stew made with small bread dumplings, noodles, mutton, and broth. We both thought it was tasty, but I was especially effusive about it. Yum!


One of the primary reasons for coming to Xi'an was to visit the world-famous Terracota Warriors. It was pretty mind-boggling seeing the excavations and the thousands of life-size warriors and horses that were buried there. They were constructed for Emperor Qin Shi Huang over two thousand years ago, most likely so he would still have a standing army when he continued his reign in the next life. We'd been warned that the Warriors are a bit of a let down after so much hype over the years, so we were prepared and had a good time with it. We spent the day with Christina from Mexico, whose enthusiasm for attempting to speak Chinese was engaging and came at a good time for us, since we were still in the hesitant, culture shock mode. We now have a new perspective and are ready for the long-haul!


Yesterday we went to the airport in Xi'an to fly to Lijiang, Yunnan Province, the next stop on our itinerary. When we arrived, we discovered that the flight we had booked either didn't actually exist or was cancelled (depending on who you asked). It was a little stressful and chaotic, but we did eventually make it to Lijiang around midnight -- with our bags! Even though we have tiny packs, they still made us check them since they don't allow any liquids through and have a 5 kilo weight limit for carry-ons. Oh well.

We're in Lijiang now (wow! what a beautiful place!). I'll write more from here in a few days. We're going to hike Leaping Tiger Gorge for the next couple of days. I'm sure we'll have plenty more to tell after that!

-matt!

Around Pingyao and various China observations

Hi all--

After our train event, we happily spent a couple days wandering around the ancient and well-preserved town of Pingyao, in the Shanxi Province south of Beijing. The old, walled area of the city is incredibly well-preserved (let's hear it for ancient economic downturn!) and a delight to walk around in. The streets are closed to vehicular traffic (except bikes and electric bikes), and everyone sits on their porch steps in the evenings. Every household has red paper lanterns hanging outside (think of the film "Raise the Red Lantern", which was filmed nearby), and gracefully curved roof decorations. We stayed in a hostel located in the former mayor's house. It had several courtyards with rooms surrounding each one (see the photo). The ancient city walls are intact, and it's possible to walk around the entire thing (though we didn't because it cost $).

Where is AAA when you need them?

On our second day there, we rented bikes and went on a ride out into the countryside to check out the Shaunglin Temple. It was rough going and not very scenic nearer the new part of the city, but that soon gave way to farms, fields, and trees. We were about 4 kilometers out of town and almost to the temple when Sarah's bike chain decided to fall apart. We pulled off to the side of the road and attempted to fix it with no tools. Eventually two police cars (with 5 people in each) pulled up, and with lots of advice from all of them, one took charge and tried to fix the chain..... using a large rock. That obviously didn't work, so eventually they told us (through lots of hand gestures) that we could get the chain fixed at the temple. So we walked our bikes down the road (which turned out to be a really nice walk) and gave them over to the guys hanging out front. We toured the temple, which had some amazing painted statues and well-kept grounds. When we got back out, the chain was "fixed". We got about 500 meters down the road before it broke again. Pretty much immediately, a couple guys on motorcycles pulled over, and ended up spending the next hour working on the chain. Eventually, one of them took it into town and got a couple new links put in. After that, we were able to get it back together with no problems. One thing about the Chinese, many of them are incredibly nice and will go completely out of their way to help, even for strangers who can't speak their language.

That was pretty much the main excitement around Pingyao. I did try to go birding at the river one of the days we were there, but it turned out to be a cesspool of sewage and trash. I was kind of expecting that, but it was pretty disappointing to come upon it anyway. The main birds I saw that day were in cages at a "pet store" enroute: Bluethroats, Rubythroats, buntings, Starlings, Hwamei, Leothrix, Great Tits (yes, this is a bird), etc. The Chinese think it's good luck to have a bird in the house, so all of these birds I mentioned are wild caught (and in this case, in horrible condition); some so freaked out they were beating themselves to death against the sides of the cages trying to get out. They seem to be a little better taken care of once they are in a home, but they are still in small cages. They get them to sing a lot by getting two males and putting their cages fairly near each other, so that the birds constantly feel the need to defend their "territory" by singing. Pretty sad...

So yesterday we jumped on a bus and headed toward Xi'an. Luckily, the bus ride was way more comfortable than the train ride. Sarah is trying to kick a head cold she must have picked up on the plane when we flew to Beijing, so we've been trying to take it easy since then. Our reason for heading to Xi'an was to see the Terracota Warriors and to catch a flight out to Lijiang, in the Yunnan Province. More on that in the next post.

OK, so a few observations thus far in China:

1. China is one of the safest feeling countries we've ever travelled in. Even in the back alleys of Beijing it felt safe. This is echoed by pretty much every traveller we've met. It's a refreshing feeling compared to places where you have to constantly be wary and on your guard. Here we still pay attention and keep ahold of our bags, but there isn't the feeling that everyone is eyeing your bag.

2. Smoking is extremely popular in China (at least with the men). People light up everywhere -- the most annoying times being on the buses and trains. Yesterday we were eating in a little mom and pop restaurant and their son (who couldn't have been over 13) was puffing away on a little smoke break from washing dishes.

3. Spitting. They hack and spit -- all the time. Apparently this is less common than it once was, at least in the cities. The authorities have started fining people for doing it in public vehicles and on the street.

4. There has been a massive, apparently country-wide tree-planting campaign in the last few months. There are millions of pole-planted willows, cottonwoods, and other trees lining all of the highways and roads for about 15 meters out on each side. They even did these tree plantings in ridiculous places, such as terraced cliffs. Not sure if this effort was a PR attempt for the Olympics or not.

5. People here are very friendly. We are constantly being greeted with a big smile and "hullo!" from all sides. It's almost never mocking or unfriendly (as it often is in Latin America), but genuine and open. We've been asked to be in pictures several times -- apparently foreigners are as interesting as the tourist sites!

6. Dogs -- There are almost no big dogs in China. Most, even the strays, seem to be little (as in lapdog size). For the most part, they are well-cared for, too. I have great memories of a little Pekingese who ruled the street in Pingyao.

Alrighty! Next post will be about the Terracota Warriors. Later.

-matt!

The Train to Pingyao

Our fantastic day at the Great Wall was followed by a less successful day of searching for a grocery store. Once we finally found one though, we had a great time perusing the aisles for odd foods (prepackaged chicken feet, for example). We'll get photos later. We did manage to leave the store with some important money saving items, namely peanut butter and jelly. We also picked up some snacks for our upcoming overnight train ride out of Beijing to Pingyao.

We tried to get a couple spots on the sleeper car for the 13 hour ride, but they were sold out. Instead, we got seats on the only thing that was left: the "hard" seats. We should have known... I should mention that we had to have our hostel do the booking, since doing so in Chinese is completely beyond us. We rode the subway out to the Beijing West Train station and walked the 1.5 kilometer there. The train station was unlike anything I've ever seen. It was seriously the size of an airport, with streams of people crossing raised walkways over the highway into it. And this was only the WEST train station. There were people waiting around outside all over.... for what we had no idea. We arrived an hour ahead of time, and entered into the waiting room for our train, only to find that 1000 other passengers had already beaten us there. We crammed ourselves into the surging line (OK, so Chinese don't LINE up... they just push forward and cut ahead of anyone they can) and eventually fought our way to our train car (bypassing all the fairly comfy looking sleeper cars). Watch the video for a little clip of that. Our seats were waiting for us, but weren't what we were expecting. They were straight-backed, backward facing seats grouped in sixes -- three facing three, so we had to lace our knees together. Not only that, but the aisle also filled up with people who had tickets and no seats -- they stood the entire 13 hours. People were smoking and shoving their stuff anywhere they could; people even filled up the bathroom with their belongings. Speaking of bathrooms, they were so filthy (especially by the end of the trip) that we dehydrated ourselves so we wouldn't need to go in there the whole trip -- and we didn't! The air was pretty foul with various smells, including cigarette smoke, so Sarah wore a bandanna over her mouth and nose the whole night; an extremely good idea. Sarah's journal entry that night began: "We boarded a train to Pingyao with about 1,000 Chinese people pushing and carrying luggage and bags of food and holding children's hands and peering around... and peering at us. And so began what could prove to be the most physically harrowing night of my life thus far!"

All this being said, it definitely could have been worse. We actually managed to catch a little sleep; Sarah hunched over on my lap and me trying to keep my head up. One nice thing is that the train provides hot water for ramen, which everyone on board knew about except for us. They all had their ramen cups ready! This was like a Guatemalan chicken bus ride on steroids, and a memory that will stick with us for quite a while.

We're in Pingyao now, and will do a little exploring of this beautifully preserved Ming and Qing dynasty town in the morning.

Much love to you all!

-Matt!

The Great Pall of China

Hi all.


Nope, that title isn't a typo. More about that later. After our day checking out the highlights of downtown Beijing, we decided to do what every person who visits China HAS to do: visit the Great Wall. Being the cheapskates (read very thrifty) travelers we are, we were determined to do this trip as cheaply as possible. We bypassed the hordes of "guides" approaching people for tours (and the hostels slightly more reputable version of the same) and settled on a more local tour with a sight-seeing company that does trips for Chinese tourists. It was a third the price of the tours (100 yaun per person, or about 14 dollars) geared to foreigners, so it seemed the thing to do. When we got there, the tour we wanted (NO SHOPPING) didn't start selling tickets until later, so we sat outside and weighed our options (while looking out on Tiananmen Square and listening to the Kenny G Christmas album piped over the bus station). Then we made the decision we should have made in the first place: roll like we usually do, with no tours. So we took the subway across town, found a local bus going the right way (after much confusion), and were on our way to the Wall! We even had a fantastic tour guide on the way there who had quite a sense of humor -- or at least we think so: the other passengers were laughing a lot, but we don't speak Chinese.... Best of all: it only cost us 12 yuan ($1.50) to get there!



We met the Wall at Badaling -- the most well restored and touristy part. It lies about 70 km (45 miles) from Beijing. We had some serious trepidation about visiting the part that everyone and their dog visits due to the crowds (they are serious when they say that there are 1.3 billion people here), but were in for a serious surprise. After some more confusion about where we got dropped off (it is really a hindrance to speak no Chinese), we found the entrance to the section of the wall. There were indeed hordes of visitors there (buses and buses and buses full), but for some odd reason they all were heading to the east when they got up on the Wall. So of course we turned West. We pretty much had the wall to ourselves from that point on. What a fantastic experience! Also, what an amazing piece of human construction. Altogether, the various walls (no, it isn't one long wall, but many sections) stretch almost 30,000 kilometers (17,000 miles)! It snakes along ridges through the mountains. I know you have seen photos, so you know what I am talking about. We hiked (some sections were really steep) until we came to the end of the restored section, then sat and had lunch. Then, as we were finishing up, Sarah noticed the HORDES. Whatever was causing people to go the opposite way at the beginning no longer applied, because they were coming. We said our goodbyes to an amazing, quiet experience on the wall and started back. Apparently, the busiest time for visits to the wall is also the hottest. Go figure.

Now, a brief word about the title of this post: we were 45 miles from Beijing at that section of the wall, and the air was still so smoggy that we could hardly see the wall stretching up the next mountain. I have never experienced pollution like this. We read that breathing the air of Beijing is like smoking 70 cigarettes a day. I would have to agree. The cars clogging the roads are one thing, but most of the pollution comes from 18.5 million Beijingers burning coal for a lot of household uses. We both certainly noticed the effects. By today I was starting to get a nice cough.

Anyway, this is already pretty long so I will sign off. Tune in next time for our adventures on the train out of Beijing!




-Matt!

Is bathroom Forbidden City?

OK, so most of you won't get that title at all... It's probably better that way.

Anyway, we spent most of the day today in the Forbidden City. What an amazing place. The grounds cover over 170 square kilometers, and house some amazing buildings, courtyards, passageways, thrones, gardens, etc. Some of the courtyards are big enough for the emperor (or Chairman Mao) to have reviewed up to 100,000 troops at once! In the afternoon we climbed a sizable hill just outside the grounds that has a temple on top and is totally covered in trees. It was hard to believe, but the whole hill was artificial; it was made with all the soil dug up to make the moat around the forbidden city!

Tiananmen Square was also amazing, if only for the history and the sheer size of it. On the north end, Chairman Mao's huge painting still hangs on the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Tomorrow we might stop by to see his body lying in state after we get back from the Great Wall.

Something I've found interesting is the number of Chinese tourists here. In Latin America, it's very rare to find a tourist from the country you are traveling in, or even from another Latin American country. In China though, the Chinese can't seem to get enough of visiting all the amazing places in their own country. The majority of the visitors to the tourist sites we've visited have been Chinese.

Beijing's famous smog was in full force today. I've never seen anything like it. It felt like a cloudy, overcast day, but in reality it was sunny -- the sun just wasn't actually visible through the haze. This made it even more obvious that we were very lucky yesterday, because a rainstorm that kept us from landing on time actually cleared the air enough for there to be blue sky and sun for the rest of the afternoon.

Tonight we ate dinner at the "night market"; a series of (overpriced) street food vendors that sell all sorts of weird meats; almost all on skewers. There were snake, centipede, scorpion, starfish, grubs, and pupas, as well as more normal things like lamb, chicken, beef, etc. We stuck to fried dumplings and corn. =)

Sarah's upstairs writing in her journal, and I think I need to go to bed. The jet lag belatedly caught up with me, I guess. Or maybe it's the 10+ miles we walked today. Who knows.....

Good night!

-Matt!

El Paso to Beijing

We made it safe and sound to Beijing! It has been a long 2 days, and we're both pretty wiped out, but I wanted to get this off so people wouldn't be worried (as if!). I've been up for about 27 hours now...

In the past 36 hours, we've been in El Paso, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Beijing, and we managed a 20 minute visit with Johnny B in the Phoenix airport, a great visit with his brother Jose and his wife Erica in Los Angeles (thanks for letting us stay at your place!), and got to sightsee over Siberia and Alaska! We also met a new friend, Dave, in the Vancouver airport who was on his way to Beijing for business. He had a driver picking him up at the airport, and offered us a ride to our hostel. What a great introduction to Beijing. Crazy traffic, crazy driving, unbelievable construction, and interestingly, lots and lots of trees. The new airport terminal (the largest in the world!) was pretty stunning, if a little empty. I'm assuming that won't be the case a few weeks from now with the Olympics starting.

For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, Beijing is 14 hours AHEAD of Mountain Standard Time. I found it extremely interesting that by flying west to get to China, we actually were getting further away in timezones until we hit the International Date Line. Then suddenly we were a full day ahead of where we were just over the line. So basically we flew 10 timezones back in order to get 14 time zones ahead. Confused? I hope so. =)

Alrighty! More to come. I'm excited about this adventure, as you can tell.

-Matt!

ps- for you birders out there, I've seen Rock Pigeons, Eurasian Tree Sparrows, and a Carrion Crow so far, plus a Red-billed Leothrix in a cage. Off to a slow start! Two lifers, though.