Chengdu to the Edge of Tibet

I hopped a 16 hour train up to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, world famous for spicy food. I walked out of the train station to find a city where everybody walks slow and nobody hassles the foreigners. After checking into a hostel for two bucks a night I set out to find this famous spicy food.

Walking aimlessly around the city yielded some great food finds. Muslims. The Chinese Muslims make amazing street food. Two of my favorites are a fry bread stuffed with potato and lamb and the other is the mutton and noodle soup. What makes this simple soup so great is that they make the noodles when you order. The cook walks over to a hunk of dough, kneads it, pulls it and folds it over and over in an athletic fashion until he has chewy noodles that taste amazing. As for spicy food, I pleaded and taunted cooks to make face swell with heat but nothing really made me sweat.

After a few days of doing nothing and hanging out with couch surfers, I decided it was time to see the pandas everybody wouldn't shut up about. Ever been hanging out in your apartment on a Sunday late morning and watch your roommate come out of their room from a night of partying. they come stumbling out, hungover, walk over to the kitchen, get some food and then proceed to flop on the couch, eat and eventually pass out. That is exactly what these pandas were like, except cute. They walk out, lay on their backs and eat bamboo until they pass out. Got some great pictures.

* * * * *

Since the province of Tibet was so far away and required even more paperwork from the Chinese government, I decided to see the Tibet that is on the Sichuan side. I hopped a bus where I was again the only foreigner, to a place where I could rent a horse. The first hour I was in town I was scrambling to buy some long underwear (which hasn't left my body since... 5 days). Tibetans walked the streets, staring at me all bundled up while they their huge wool and fur robes with sleeves that almost touched the ground.

I booked a two day horse-trek out to a national park. The wind blew over the desolate, brown mountains and right through my layers. This was harsh land where the Tibetans thrived. My horse, who I lovingly named Stark, was slow except when the other horses tried to pass it, then it hauled ass, tossing me around in the saddle.

We took shelter for the night in a local family's cabin. After a simple stew dinner, the other tourist on the trek pulled out a bottle of booze. The guide explain that this was Tibetan whiskey. It wasn't whiskey, but whatever it was, the other tourist had way to much of it. She ended up puking all over the cabin floor. The sleeping arrangement was simple yet effective, a bunch of blankets in an open-air shelter topped off with spare jackets.

The next day I started out on a three day journey across the rest of the mountains. It was cold and lonely except for the curious Tibetan priest I met while waiting for a bus. These dirt road mountain towns were all the type of places that made me sit back and think... how the heck did I end up in a place like this?

Booming China

It took an expensive visa, three border checkpoints and a 7 hour bus ride for me to get to my first Chinese town. The very first thing I noticed was all the construction. Everywhere there was concrete being laid, trucks hauling ruble and bamboo scaffolding covering projects. The second thing I saw was the pollution. Every car and truck no matter how mall spews thick black smoke. Every person discards their trash by tossing it out of the window. This is the fastest growing market that every financial professional is taking note of and it is the country that pollutes so much that western Canada is feeling its direct effects.



My arrival was what I had expected, a thriving city that doesn't slow down to help backpackers because nobody speaks English. In my time here I have become a fantastic sketch artist and world-class charades player. These skilsl were a necessity and not the least bit fun. After a week in China I was feeling quite depressed with how my experience was going. Every attraction cost money to get in. I payed an ureasonable sum of yuan to see the famous Three Pagodas only to find that the entire attraction was practically brand new. The ancient cities of Dali and Lijang were all remakes built on top of what was already glorious. The Chinese tourists like everything clean and neat, including their ancient history. They also like to touch white peoples skin and have their pictures taken with Westerners. I found I was a much of a tourist attraction as the renovated ancient city I was in.



I was lucky to link up with some other Westerners and make an attempt to escape the hordes of Chinese tourists. We took off for a three day hike across Tiger Leaping Gorge. It was exactly what the doctor ordered. Fresh mountain air, inspiring vistas and good company. We spent our days hiking alongside the gorge, tiny compared to the towering snow covered peaks, and spent our nights in Tibetan guesthouses, keeping warm by a coal fire pot and playing Ma-ja.



Now I'm back to the bustling city. I took a 16 hour train and a couple buses to get all the way to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan and home to the Chinese fiery food.





Route Update

I'm sure some of you have been worried about how I was going to cross the Middle East overland. Well fret no more. From here in Chengdu I will be heading north up the Muslim area of China where I will merge onto the northern Silk Road. That's right everybody, I'm going to Kazakhstan. High-five!

A Day In the Life...

7:00am - Wake up in cold, concrete room that costs $2

7:15 - finally get out of bed and to get to bus station

7:45 - Tuk-tuk drops me off at bus station

8:45 - 8:00 bus finally leaves and I realize I could have slept in for another hour

8:45 to 11:30 - ride old, beat up bus through bumpy, winding roads through the mountains. Watch local puke as a result. Start conversations with westerners on bus... conclude that they are lame and stop talking to them

11:30 - stop at village for lunch. Sit down and ask for standard pork noodle soup. Eat soup and decide that the meat tasted a bit wierd. While leaving restaurant notice two ground hog sized rats in a cage on display. Realize what I just ate.

12:00 - more winding roads. A Local pukes from motion sickness.

6:00 - Arrive at town. Decide I want to leave town as soon as possible

7:00 - Find guesthouse and take warm shower.

8:00 - Eat at local market stand. Locals giggle. Look for jacket but all are too small.

8:45 - Get on internet to research next destination. Trade english books with Loas girl learning english. Loas girl rips me off.

9:00 - Get indigestion and go back to guest house. Forced to use traditional squat toilet.

9:45 - Have beers with lame Americans. They get drunk and obnoxious. Local gets angry and yells at them. I ditch the lame Americans. Feel much shame.

10:30- Go to bed in a cold, concrete room

Business in Luang Prabang

"Sabaidee, sir.... SABAIDEE!"
That was what an employee at the visa agency said to get my attention when he found me at an internet cafe hours after I had paid him to get my Chinese visa in two working days. It means "hello" in Laos. He said I need to come to the agency right away because there was a problem with my visa. I asked "what kind of problem?" He only replied "problem with price" and motioned for me to follow him.

I knew what the problem was. I created the problem on purpose. Months ago the U.S. raised the price for Chinese citizens to get tourist visas and in March China returned the favor. When the agency quoted me at the old price I asked several times if they were sure. They said yes, signed my receipt and I walked away hoping that was enough to call a binding contract. Back at the agency, I tried to explain in simplified English that the receipt meant that they had to do the service I already paid for and that they couldn't charge me more because WE HAD A DEAL! Their fault for the mistake.

The next day I had to come back to argue with the boss. We got into a bit of a heated argument and I went to the police. In the U.S. that receipt was enough to ensure that I got what I paid for but in Laos... well, I just had to go somewhere else and pay the full price and spend another day in Laos. $150 for a one month visa! This will be the most expensive visa on this trip.

I maid there most out of waiting by hanging out with my hilarious travel buddies I had been with for a week and explained to them what Halloween was. They dressed up as a pirate, the statue of liberty and I did the classic toilet paper mummy. Locals laughed and the barkeeps gave us free drinks. The next day we took off for a nearby waterfall for some hiking, swimming and rope swinging.

Now its off to China. Que the gong.