Updates from Josh in Asia!

Photos of the house I am building in Thailand - A work in progress!

2010-03-05T01:14:00.008+08:00

To see them click on the photo below...

Photos Round 3

2009-11-12T21:35:00.000+08:00

A Terracotta Warrior near Xian.

The Army of Terracotta Warriors

More Warriors

The 14km wall around Xian

Vertical steps on the Soldiers Path up Mt Huashan

More steep steps on Huashan

View from Huashan

At the top of Huashan. Surely this is a joke, right? Right?

Climbing Huashan

The Three Gorges

Langzhong

Langzhong

Langzhong

I climbed to this tower on the mountain near Langzhong

Gate to farmers field at top of mountain

View of Langzhong from mountain

Pomello tree

A Giraffe

Three Giraffes and a Canuck

One of those random moments that can’t be explained.

A woman spinning a table

These performers would change their masks in the blink of an eye. Seriously, they came right up to us in the audience and blinked and their face changed. About 5 or 6 different masks.

Ancient Qiang Watchtowers near Danba in the village of Suopo.

I walked up to one of the villages and asked a villager if I could stay at his house for the night.

More of the village.

Men of the house where I stayed.

Typical Tibetan house in the village.

On the way to Litang. At 4000m nothing grows but grass.

The Tibetans dry Yak patties on the walls of their houses then burn them for fuel as wood is scarce.

Tablets near the monastery in Litang

Monks on their way to the Monastery

Entrance to one of the halls of the monastery in Litang

View of Litang from a stupa near the monastery

Stupa with monastery in the background. The Tibetans often drape stupas or high mountain passes and peaks with prayer flags.

Tibetan people of the area.

More people

Impressions of China

2009-11-10T19:01:00.001+08:00

I know in the past couple posts I haven't really said much about China itself so I think I'll share some of my thoughts here...

People
By and large, and like every other country I've been to, the Chinese have been very friendly. There's the occasional "hello!" from some young person who's had one English class and then there's the person who seems to come out of nowhere with fluent English when I am stuck trying to arrange a bus ticket. In general they are curious and I catch many second glances as they catch me in their eye passing by. Whether it's my colour or my size I am not certain, but probably both. On a bus in the far west of the country a Tibetan man pulled the sleeves of my shirt up so he could point out the hair on my arms to everyone else aboard. I will often turn around upon hearing gasps to see a bunch of people staring at the size of my feet. It's all very funny of course. Being singled out for an arm-wrestle by a Kazakh who looked like a bull was a highlight (he easily won the second match after letting me win the first).

But if I was to comment on the people in general, or my "vibe" of the Chinese people, it's that they are very much out for themselves. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, it clearly is just a cultural difference. The Chinese throw their garbage everywhere. They smoke when they want to, where they want to (even on buses and trains under the CLEARLY posted "No Smoking" signs). They drive where they want to with complete disregard for pedestrians and other traffic. There is no such thing as a "lineup" and even when you're in the ticket window another head will pop in between you and the cashier interrupting your conversation. They will yell in the middle of the night to get their friends attention down the hall. In short, they don't give a f#ck. Maybe it's because they're all trying to fend for themselves among 1.6 Billion other citizens, or maybe it's because their culture is one of "if it's not mine, it's not my concern". I am not sure. Sometimes you have to laugh at it, sometimes you just lose your mind in frustration.

When crossing the street you have to constantly look out. Even at an intersection when the "walk" signal starts flashing - I am not even sure why they have that here as whoever has the biggest vehicle has the right of way. They will drive in the oncoming lane while passing another vehicle even in the middle of the city. They will stay in that lane as long as any oncoming vehicle is smaller. They honk their horns constantly, usually for no other reason than to say "here I am". The other day it was 6am, no traffic on the street and we hailed a cab. It stopped and as we loaded our bags into the truck another cab pulled up behind and just started honking to tell us we were in his way. There was no one else around. Even as we got into the cab he was honking. At this point I got out and walked in between our cab and his and just stood there staring at him. It was a good 15 or 20 seconds and then he realized that I wasn't moving unless he stopped honking. In the countryside the honking supposedly has the purpose of telling you to get out of the way. It also has the side-effect of scaring the shit out of you when they're directly beside you, and you've already moved out of the way because you could hear the engine a mile beforehand! I've said this before at home, and now that I've experienced it it's absolute truth; people in Canada will often complain about how "bad" Asian drivers are but I can tell you that this is all relative. They drive like they do at home. And if you were to drive here, YOU would be the one who's bad. You probably wouldn't get anywhere waiting for someone to let you in, or your road rage would have you in an accident in minutes. Annoying and chaotic as it is, it seems to work for them.

A big thing you notice here is the discrepancy with cleanliness. The people themselves are quite clean, washing themselves in the morning and at night. But then they hork and spit at whim, even the women, clearing out everything in their systems. Its funny when you see two people on a date, dressed sharply, and then one of them just leans over mid sentence and coughs up something nasty. And the other just stares adoringly onward.

The city's have a surprisingly large number of trash cans around, and you always see city workers picking up garbage. But this has a dark side. You'll see two garbage cans, one for regular garbage, the other for recyclables. But when you look inside you see that the people haven't bothered to make the distinction. If there's no garbage can then people just throw their garbage wherever they want. It's especially terrible at tourist sites or on hiking trails; you get to a rest spot or a lookout and it's littered with plastic water bottles, beer bottles and bags. Everywhere. Walking down the street you'll see people toss stuff out car windows, or just unwrap something they're eating and throw it to the side. You do see lots of government signs that say things like "Keep China Green" or "Take care of your country" - but people don't. Again I think it has to do with this idea of fending for themselves. I know I commented on this garbage thing when I was traveling in India too but the difference here is more noticeable to me as China is seemingly much more developed. Their infrastructure is booming, buses are relatively new, people dress stylishly and yet at the end of the day.... they don't give a f#ck. (You'll hear other travelers say that too by the way. Seems to be the consensus.)
Overwhelmingly however the most shocking thing I think I have to deal with is the bathroom situation. Chinese toilets are horrendous. My worst experience so far is during a bus stop when I got out to have a leak and followed the other guys into a small wooden shack on the side of the road. There, I crouched down to piss between two pieces of wood while two guys on either side of me squatted to crap with their shoulders touching my knees. There was a line-up to get in. I left shaking my head to find Isabelle leaving the woman's side. She just looked at me and said "I can't do it. I can't go with all those other people in there." Even washrooms at the bus stations are a challenge. The don't build the walls between the toilets any higher than 4 feet. So when you walk in you're already looking at people squatting, and of course they wall want to watch you do the same. The best thing to do is find a gas station, or till you get back to your hotel. In other countries with squats, there's usually a water basin near by with a bucket you use for cleaning yourself. Here in China, its just a small garbage can. You're not supposed to put paper down the pipe, so you just throw it in the can on top of everyone else's (or hell, just throw it in the direction of the can); assuming you've brought some of course. It's never supplied and I can't imagine everyone is carrying around a roll in their pocket so I'll leave that to your imagination.

The language here has been a real challenge though. Oh how I wish I brought a phrasebook (though my iphone has come in handy). There is very little English spoken anywhere. If the guesthouse is mentioned in the lonely planet, then MAYBE someone there speaks a little English. Other than that it's just random to find an English speaker. The language itself is very unforgiving too. No how many times you practice saying something, they often just won't get it. "Train Station" is my biggest challenge. It's pronounced "hoo-ah-chuh zan" (literally 'fire wagon house', bus is 'chi chuh' or 'energy wagon') and no matter how many times I say it, they just stare at me. Finally, after making choo choo noises or just saying it 1000 times they'll say "OOOhhhh, 'hoo-ah-chuh zan'!" in exactly the same way I've said it to them. I understand that tones are important, and that there's 5 tones in chinese so how I am saying it could mean 5 different things... but really... come on... when a white guy gets into your cab with a big backpack, of all the things "hoo-ah-chuh zan's" tonal variants could be, which one does he probably want? "Take me to the sewing machine... the sewing machine... "choo choo" goes the sewing machine?!" No, he probably wants the train station. The other tough thing with the language is that there's no words for "yes" and "no". They answer in the positive or negative depending on what you've asked. So the difficulty arises when I try to simplify things and ask questions that require a simple yes or no answer. "Is there a train tomorrow?" and then they just fire off Chinese at you for 3 minutes. The kicker, and this happens ALL THE TIME, is when the verbal just isn't working anymore and the person you are speaking to decides to write it out for you... in Chinese characters of course! It's terribly frustrating, and interesting that it happens everywhere in China.

Transportation
The primary method I use for getting around is the bus. They are usually newer here in China than other Asian buses but the interiors still need work. Often seats are broken or the windows rattle open as you go down the road but overall its pretty comfortable. They do have sleeper buses as well but I only use these when I have to. Basically a sleeper bus has beds instead of seats, with three rows down the length of the bus, upper and lower bunks, around a total of 32. There'll be a compartment for your feet that is actually the elevated head rest of the person in front of you. The length of each bed is about 5.5 feet, and because my feet are big I can't get them in the compartment so I have to keep them outside, knees bent and resting on the bar just behind the head of the guy in front of me. At 6'4" tall I get about 4'6" of space so this is an awkward sleeping position. I would much rather have a seat but they only run those buses during the day.
Trains are the best way to travel but of course don't go everywhere. I travel 2nd class "hard sleeper" but it's not really hard. There's a mattress, sheet, blanket and pillow. Each open compartment has 6 beds, 3 stacked on top of each other. I prefer the bottom bunk as its a little wider, but I'll take the top bunk if I have to. In that case I put my head opposite of how it's set up so that I can dangle my feet over the edge and everyone just walks underneath. All the trains have hot water freely available so most people travel with tea and big bowls of instant noodles. Seat trains are packed but still comfortable enough. Just hold your breath using the toilets. Wow.

Taxis are good for getting around town. They always go by meter which makes it easy unless the driver is trying to squeeze some cash out of you. I had one argument so far where the guy used the meter... it got up to 5 Yuan, then he stopped it, drove a bit more and let me out and tried to charge me 10. This made no sense. I ended up paying him 6 (because we did still drive a fair bit after he turned it off) but it was big hassle. The fun part about arguing with someone when neither of you speak the same language is you can get as mad as you want and say whatever you want about him, his mother, whoever and it won't matter - you know he's doing he same to you anyway. As long as you're firm and occasionally smile and refuse to leave it seems you'll get your way.

Food
Ahh... Chinese food. Love it! Most of it anyway... some... not so much. It's nothing like what we get at home of course. There's no sweet and sour chicken balls, or egg rolls or chop suey that I've seen. There's certainly no Fortune Cookies (that was an idea invented by the Japanese in San Francisco and stolen by the Chinese when the Japanese were thrown into internment camps during WW2). And of course as you move around China the variety of food differs from region to region. In Sichuan its SPICY. Fire food. Good... but WOW. In the far NW there's a lot more bread. I think the bagel may have been invented there, or at least came from Central Asian peoples as they have a bread that looks just like bagel and is often baked with Sesame Seeds on top. Hot in the morning? Outstanding. No cream cheese though. ;) The Tibetans make many bread items too but they fry it more often. As for the "regular" chinese food, I wish I had the chance to eat more of it. Each item is served as a big dish that a few people would eat from at a round table (you see these kinds of restaurants in Canada). So when you're on your own it doesn't make sense to order several dishes because it's just too much food. And no, there is no special combo A or B for one (I've asked). If I am with other travelers we usually go out and do it up and it's usually a treat. I really like Ma Po Tofu (spicy tofu), and we'll often get scrambled eggs with large chunks of tomatoes. Fried beef or pork with green peppers, many dishes come with a peanut sauce. Really though you never get the same thing twice because the sauce is always different, or it's a different kind of noodle. To order, there's three ways to go about it. 1. If there's pictures on the wall, you point. 2. If there's others in the restaurant you point at what they're eating. 3. You point at something random on the menu and surprise yourself. For better or worse. The Lonely Planet also has a small food guide in the front part of the book with rough translations so sometimes I'll open that and just show the cook and he'll point at what he has or can make and we'll go from there. When I am on my own I usually eat in small noodle houses or at the food stalls in the markets. Dumplings are a favorite, as is the muslim food you get in some areas. Some days I've just had enough local food and buy fruit. Grapes, pomellos, apples and kiwis where I am so far. Oh and pomegranates! Love those.

As for the weird stuff... well... In Urumqi I was hanging out with a Chilean fella and he suggested we go "try" some things. He went one way down the market and I went the other, we both picked the strangest things we found and joined to share at a table in the middle. He had a bowl of boiled innards... stuffed intestines, kidneys, etc. I came back with a goats head. I had watched a guy take it from a steamer, peel the "meat" from the skull, then crack the skull with a hammer to get the brain out. We sat down and shared our meals... about half of it anyway. At one point I commented on a large chunk of something I was chewing and noted how I thought it tasted like cheese... then my friend said he thought it was just pure fat. I suddenly gagged and that was it for me. The goat head "meat" tasted pretty good to be honest. The brain... well... it was somewhat creamy.. and just strange. That was my big food adventure in Urumqi. In Turpan I ate some bbq'd testicles and (I think) a kidney on a stick. Both delicious. Since then most things have been relatively normal. People here do like to eat chunks of fat though and I've had to get used to that. I've also had several flavours of pickled beef. Tibetan butter tea is something I just can't get used to. It's basically like drinking a mug full of melted yak butter. Some travelers love it.
On trains and roadside stops I'll often eat a bowl of dehydrated noodles. Like Mr. Noodles but with a lot more flare. The bowls are big, cost about 50 cents and have a fork inside. Hot Water is ubiquitous in the country. Every hotel room has a kettle or they will bring you a thermos full of hot water each day. On trains there's hot water either in a thermos near your bunk or just outside the bathroom. You open the noodle bowl half way, empty out the 3 or 4 different packets of seasonings inside, then pour in the water. You close the lid, then stab the fork down on the lip to keep it closed for the 3 or 4 minutes it takes to "cook". Cheap and easy.

And of course, any traveler who tells you they've only stuck to the local food will be lying to you. Sometimes you want comfort food, something familiar from home. One night in Xining the French couple I was with, another Canadian couple, and two Brits and I decided to go for real pizza at a "real" Italian restaurant. We even ordered a bottle of Italian wine. Cheesecake for dessert.... yum. My biggest cheat so far though was when I arrived in Xian... and I saw a McDonalds.... and I went in and I ate a Sausage and Egg McMuffin, with hash browns and coffee and it was glorious, quiet, and clean.

Money
China isn't as cheap as I thought it was going to be. I mean of course it's cheap relative to life back in Canada, but whereas I usually spend an average of $600 a month or less in other Asian countries, China is so far costing double that. It's about 6 yuan, or kwai, to the Canadian $. Food in the markets is cheap, about 3 to 6yuan for a bowl of noodle soup. In a restaurant a dish usually costs about 15 or 20 yuan, or $3. So every meal I spend anywhere from $1 to $6. Compare that with Thailand where a market meal is about 30 to 40 cents, but a meal in a restaurant about $3. Accommodation is pricier here too. A cheap bed in an 8 bed dormitory runs about $5-$8. A room to yourself anywhere from $10 and up. In Thailand your own room is usually between $4 and $7. Transportation is all over the map. A bus ride that's 10hrs may cost you $30, or it may cost your $10. Same with the train.Cabs usually start at 75 cents when the flag falls, and then go up from there. Here's some typical costs:

500ml bottle of water: 33 cents
600ml bottle of beer: 33 cents in the store, $1 to $1.50 in a restaurant
1L of gas is about $1
Grapes: $1 to $1.50 per kilo
Apples: 8 to 16 cents each
Goats head: $3
Huge bagel: 16 cents
electrical power bar: $1
Snickers bar: 80 cents
Big Mac Meal: $5
Bottle of Jack Daniels: $35
Pair of jeans: $5 and up

Without a doubt the biggest unexpected expense is admission charges. The Chinese charge for everything. They even charge you to go into certain villages or parts of a town. People live there, but if you want to just walk around the street you have to pay. And it's usually like $5 for the privilege. A temple or monastery will run you anywhere from $5-$10. The Terracotta Warriors was $15 to get in. Jiuzhaigou Park? The place where I took the pictures with the amazing colours... a staggering $37 to get in THEN you needed to pay $15 for the shuttle bus. These may not sound like a lot, but the fees quickly add up. I guess the shock is that no other country I've been to has fees like this or at least this steep. I'll often go to a temple and then just walk away when I see how much it costs. A picture of something you've seen 10 of before isn't worth $5. Maybe 50 cents or $1, but no more. This is a common complaint you hear from other travelers. "Did you go to the Bell and Drum tower?" "Yeah, but it's not worth it. You've seen it all before. Go to the market and people watch instead." I really think someone in the Tourism department should look at the elasticity of these fees. A lot of people are just walking away.

Well I think I'll end it here for this update. I've been on the road for another couple weeks since my last post so when I find some more down time I’ll update you on the places I’ve seen and add some more photos.

Photos at last!! – Turpan to Jiuzhaigou

2009-11-02T21:21:00.003+08:00

You can click these to see them a bit larger.

Uyghars in Turpan

Ancient city of Jiahore

2000 year old ruins of Jiahore village.

These residents were ahead of their time.

Raisins.

Typical scene through the gates of a Uyghar home. Those are grapevines.

Uyghar street in old part of Turpan

My fantastic cab driver in Yulin

Buddhist Caves near Yulin

Landscape on way to Yulin

Landscape on way to Yulin

More desert landscape on way to Yulin

Western Ming dynasty section of the Great Wall

More wall.

More wall again.

Climbing a section of tower on the wall

Great Wall guard tower

Street scene in Zhangye

Zhangye

Awesome hairdos.

Temples at Mati Si. HEY! What’s that up in the top balcony?

It’s me!!

Pure Rock Buddha.

Ben, Isabelle and myself

Tibetans in Xiahe

Tibetans in Xiahe. The woman is spinning a prayer wheel.

Part of the 3km of prayer wheels at Labrang Monastery in Xiahe

“8 Flavour Muslim Tea” Excellent!!

Typical Tibetan women

Hay stacks

The road to Xining

“So I should put my bags in there?”

Do you mind if I move these yak parts to make some space?

Built in hand warmers!

Songpan street scene

Typical Chinese street scene of old men gathered around watching other old men play “Go”

Wall around Songpan

The Gorge in Langmusi before the snow

Taming the Tiger

YA! I am gonna burn this yak head good!

What do you like with your tea and cigarettes in the morning?

Heads are gonna roll.

The Yak slaughterhouse after the morning’s events.

Super yummy Yak Burger with nuclear coloured Chinese ketchup

“Look what I have!”

I knew the car didn’t smell right when I got it back from the mechanic. (If you can’t read the sign it says “Auto Repair Shop at Langmusi”. I would like to add “and Fine Meats” to the end of that)

Snowing in the Gorge at Langmusi

The village of Langmusi

Yaks and the ridge at Langmusi. Do you see this blip at the top of the mountain?

This is what it is.

And this is what it looks likes with less pants!

Let me show you this rock.

Road to Xining

This one and the next few shots were all taken at Jiuzhagou park. Simply stunning scenery and colours.

And finally…

Some shaky face.

Turpan, Yulin, Jiayuguan, Zhangye, Xining, Xiahe, Langmusi, Songpan, Jiuzaighou and Xian.

2009-10-30T18:44:00.000+08:00

Again with the short notes so please excuse any unedited grammar and
spelling. I just want to get caught up to where I am now and then I'll
try to write some better stories. If there's anything you want me to
elaborate on just comment and I'll see what I can do.

As I mentioned before, the Chinese Government doesn't allow Facebook,
Youtube, or this blog site to be accessed from within the country. I've
found a way around this "Great Firewall of China" as they call it but it
makes things REALLY slow and difficult to update, especially with photos.

On the 10th of October I was able to take the night bus from Altay to
Turpan, a Uyghar town in the middle of the desert on the Silk Road.

Turpan:
-Landscape around very dry and desert like. The town itself was very
welcoming and walking around the old part of town provided a fascinating
look at Uyghar life. It seemed many houses had gates that opened to a
courtyard that were overhung with grapes. Most people know I am not a
raisin fan - AT ALL. But I walked by these guys who were shoveling a
HUGE mound of raisins they had collected into bags and they gave me a
handful. They were the sweetest juiciest raisins I have ever had in my
life. I even tried to buy more in the market afterwards but nothing
compared.
-In the town I visited the 18th century Emin mosque and just walked
around markets and the old Uyghar town. Then went to Jiahore just
outside Turpan. This 2000 year old desert city used to have about 6500
residents. After 2 millennium it is just a pile of rubble but you can
still make out the homes and monasteries. It is currently the best
preserved desert city in China and I really enjoyed the feeling of
walking around the surreal ruins.

Into Turpan that morning and out that night on the train to Anxi and
Gansu province. Took a cab to the train station about an hour away and
an elderly Uyghar in the cab was totally hammered. His wife was trying
to take care of him but mostly laughed at his inebriation. So did the
rest of us!

Off to Gansu province. There's a famous place called Dunhuang that is
famous for its ancient Buddhist grottoes - paintings and sculptures
inside caves dug into the sides of mountains starting in 366AD. Of
course the Chinese charge for everything you do in this country and
Dunhuong is one of the more expensive attractions. Sue, the Chinese
tourist from Kanas, had recommended I skip Dunhuoung and go to Yulin
instead, a place she felt had better preserved cave art. Yulin is not in
the Lonely Planet (LP) guide book so I jumped at the chance and Sue
wrote down all the information I needed in Chinese for me to show the
bus driver. She even called a cab driver in the small town of Yulin to
sort everything out when I got there.

Yulin
-Murphy's law kicked in and when I got to Yulin I couldn't get hold of
the taxi driver. There was also no guesthouse as I had misunderstood Sue
and basically was kind of stranded with my backpack in the tiniest of
towns. A friendly taxi driver showed up and with my limited phrasebook
in the back of my LP I tried to communicate what I wanted. But to no
avail. There was no bus out of there, and no place to stay. I ended up
calling Sue and she explained everything about the guesthouse being in a
different town and spoke to my new cab driver friend and arranged
everything! She drove me out to the Grottoes, which are stunning. No
photos are allowed and you have to go with a guide in a group - it's
included in the admission fee but he didn't speak any English. Do a
Google image search on "Yulin" to see what I am talking about. Awesome.

When I left the caves the cabbie took me back to Yulin but I couldn't
get back to Anxi to get the bus. I just kept smiling and saying Anxi and
my cabbie was (I think) trying to explain there was no bus and I had to
wait a day. Eventually she said a number and I said ok and she drove me
to Anxi herself. about a half hour away. She only charged me 50Yuan
(<$10). Could've been a lot more if she wanted but I think she found my
predicament quite funny.

BAM! Bus from Anxi to a town called Jiayuguan.

I wanted to go to Jiayuguan because it is the western end of the Great
Wall. Because I am not going to Beijing on this trip this would be my
only chance to see it. I met up with a French couple here at the hotel,
Isabelle and Ben, who I ended up spending the next 9 or 10 days with.
They were fantastic travel partners and we had a lot of fun together.
Our trip out to The Wall was something special for us all. Even though
where we were had been quite renovated you still knew it was THE GREAT
WALL and there was something very fulfilling about being there, standing
on it and looking out as it went up the hills and off into the distance.
-The hotel we stayed at was pretty dire and the security guard kept
trying to signal to me as if to ask if I needed a girl for the night.
I'll let you figure out what the signal may have been - now picture a
small old Asian man with a much too big uniform and an even bigger grin
giving you that sign. Hilarious!!

After a couple of days we were off to Zhangye. We were able to find a 3
bed room in a fantastic hotel for like 90 yuan. Hot water, clean, sit
down toilet. AWESOME. It also makes you feel more adventurous foodwise
when you have all that - you know, just in case things go awry in your
stomach. ;) We spent a couple days there checking out the local bell
towers and markets. We also visited the excellent cliffside temples at
Mati Si - see pictures.

From Zhangye to Xining by bus. Excellent scenery through Tibetan
landscapes. Xining was a big city and there wasn't much we wanted to see
save for the markets and to just walk around. We did splurge at an
Italian restaurant (there's only so much Chinese you can eat before you
need some comfort) and ate some great pizza and passable wine. The train
station at Xining is quite interesting in that people from many
different villages pass through there wearing their traditional garb.

From Xining we bussed it to Xiahe, a Tibetan town which promised to be
very interesting according to the guide book. The Tibetans on the bus
were awesome! Several of the women were preying and spinning prayer
wheels the entire ride. The man next to me marvelled at my size and kept
grabbing my arm hair showing me off in amazement to the other
passengers. A woman came on board with yak yoghurt served with sugar
that was fantastic. Another guy spent the whole ride throwing up in the
aisle. Many of the Tibetans have gold capped teeth as a sort of bank
account. It apparently attracts members of the opposite sex but I beg to
differ. Many of the passengers carried on conversations with their
friends at the other end of the bus and others joined in as if they were
all one big family.

Xiahe
Kind of a disappointment actually as the there was lots of construction
going on in town and for the most part it just seemed like one big
tourist mall. However the famous Labrang monastery there was
interesting. Surrounded by a 3km wall of prayer wheels there is always a
constant flow of Tibetans walking around the perimeter clockwise,
spinning every wheel as they pass. See pictures.

Langmusi
We only stayed one night in Xiahe before bussing through the mountains
to the Tibetan village of Langmusi. What a fantastic place! A small
welcoming town with friendly people and monks all over. Langmusi was
quite idyllic with its Yaks and surrounding mountains. We hiked for a
day, climbing along a rocky ridge and walking through a narrow gorge as
it snowed. Yak burgers at a restaurant called Leisha's were interesting
and a nice alternative to rice and noodles.

After Langmusi we continued on to a Chinese town called Songpan. Many
people like to do multi-day horse treks from here but after my Kanas
experience I had had my fill of horses for awhile. There is a famous
restaurant here (if only because of Lonely Planet) called Emma's. She is
apparently quite friendly and can help with anything you need. Well Emma
may be very nice but her daughter and I did no get along at all. Just
one of those people you meet and rub each other the wrong way for some
reason. So if you ever go to Songpan, don't go to Emma's, go to Sarah's
next door! ha! Overall there wasn't much to do in Songpan. The ancient
wall surrounding the city was quite cool and walking around in the small
alleys was interesting. We found the yak slaughtering meat market and
took some great pictures. Ben and I enjoyed this part immensely. A guy
thing I guess as Isabelle was not as impressed. ;) I finished reading
the Omnivores Dilemma a few weeks ago and I was interested to see how
large scale meat processing happens in a town like Songpan vs the
slaughterhouses we have in North America.

Leaving Songpan we headed out to the Jiuzhaigou reserve park. This is a
place with absolutely stunning scenery and colours of water you can not
imagine possible in nature. See here for pictures http://is.gd/4HTJU
Definitely worth the $50 admission.

To get out of Jiuzhaigou we had to take a 14 hour bus ride through an
area heavily destroyed by the earthquake that happened here in 2008,
killing 65000 people. 99% of the road was under construction and people
were still living in relief tents.

Arrived in GuangYuan at 815pm, said goodbye to Isabelle and Ben and
jumped on the 915pm train to Xian.

I've been in Xian for 4 days now. Well known for the home of the
Terracotta Warriors it's a sprawling city but with a small town feel to
it. The main city is surrounded by a 14km, 1000 year old wall 15m high
and 13m wide. I rented a bicycle one day and rode around on top of it.
Walking around the muslim quarter is quite interesting if only for the
different foods and people. The warriors themselves are fantastic.
Here's another link to the wiki page http://is.gd/4HU9u

Yesterday I went off to Mount Huashan. If you do a google image search
of this you'll see how crazy it is. Here:
http://images.google.com/images?q=huashan

The truth is that most of the mountain is a realistic climb. I did take
the "Soldier's Path" up instead of the cable car and it was a gruelling
climb to be sure complete with chains to hold on to at some very steep
sections where small steps have been carved into the rock. But most of
the "dangerous" pictures you see are of only one portion that takes you
to a lookout platform. From there you turn around and come back the same
route. This is called the Cliffside Trail, or Plank Walk and it is every
bit as crazy as it looks. You are 1km up on the side of the mountain,
sometimes on a 16" walkway, sometimes just with your feet in holds cut
into the side of the rock. If you fall you you are dead. The monks there
have harnesses they give you, but in the end I couldn't do it. I wanted
to for bragging rights and probably with a friend there I could have
been convinced, but staring at those sketchy harnesses to be attached to
a sketchy chain? Nope. My fears took over and I comfortably accepted
that I would probably regret my decision but at least I would have clean
underwear when I got back to Xian. Maybe another time in this life. I
hiked to the 5 different peaks of the mountain and took the cable car
down, exhausted from the day. I returned to the guesthouse to get a good
nights sleep for my early morning, but 14 hour train to Yichang and the
infamous Three Gorges.

Well today I am still in Xian. My fantastic cab driver this morning
decided to take me on a ride to jack up the fare and I was late. By 3
minutes. I had 40 minutes to take the 10 minute journey when I left this
morning and after being stuck in side streets and doing a ridiculous
loop around a section of the city wall she let me out of the cab 3
blocks from the station. I still had 5 minutes by my watch by the time I
ran there but the platform had been sealed off and I was stuck. After a
minor freakout at the ticket window I was given a new ticket for
tomorrow morning at no charge. Oh well it gave me a chance to get this
blog caught up.

I'll put some photos in a separate post...

Buerjin, Kanas Lake and Altay

2009-10-28T23:57:00.000+08:00

Hey, here's some quick notes on my first few days in China...

Beurjin
-Took a 10 hour night bus to here, then sat in a share taxi for an 2
hours waiting for the driver to get some other passengers. Started to
learn my chinese numbers and basic phrases. The driver took us to a
random hotel for some reason before setting out to Kanas and told us to
clean our teeth and wash our faces. Ok. Then he took us to a random
street side eatery where we ate breakfast. The other passengers seemed
ok with all this so I just went along with it. One of the passengers
spoke a tiny bit of English. Finally got on the way for the 2 hour
journey to Kanas through desert like lands with rolling barren hills.
Quite cool.

Kanas Lake
-Arrived in Kanas and "Jack" the chinese guy who could speak a little
English motioned he was going on a 3 day horse trek and asked if I would
like to join him. IN. There was 4 of us in total, Jack, Peter (other
chinese guy in the cab who couldn't speak english) and Sue. Sue is also
Chinese and works for Reuters in Beijing so her English was excellent.
She is the go-to translator in my phone if I get stuck anywhere!
-Three days on a horse through countryside that mostly looked like
well... er... Alberta. I was kind of disappointed when I got there as it
wasn't anything too special for me as far as scenery. Even the Kanas
village was being done up to look like your typical Banff wood log
lodge. Except with Chinese flag flying overhead. The Chinese tourists I
was with were oohing and ahhing at every turn of course and I
appreciated that. The colours changing in the trees were beautiful too.
On the first day the horse bucked me off over top of him as he went down
a steep hill. I tried to grab his neck to hang on but he would have none
of it and I flew head over heels but landed squarely on my back. I
wasn't hurt so all was good.
-Second night we were in a totally different place as far as wilderness
goes called Black Lake. Felt like the moon in a sort of way. There was
just this one Yurt (a Kazakh/Mongol style round tent) to stay in. The
Kazakhs tried to grossly overcharge us (200Yuan, or $35 each) for a bed,
and then $10 for rice but Jack is a Chinese businessman and knows how to
bargain and got the food for 20Yuan (3$) each. As for the room, I
refused to pay 200. They offered 150 and I took that as an insult
considering we paid 20 the night before. I put on my pack, thanked the
horse guide and started walking in the dusk to get back to the town.
Jack came running after me a few minutes later and said the Kazakhs
would take 50. Perfect.
-Third night was spent in the village. We climbed a mountain to a
lookout pavilion on foot but it was closed when we got there. Walking
back we decided to take a shortcut that led us to a steep hill that we
couldn't get down. It turned dark and we managed to find a somewhat less
steep hill to slowly work our way down. The Kazakh hotel owner showed up
with some buddies after we failed to get home for so long after dark and
found us not too far from the road still on the hill. We weren't lost as
the road was clearly visible and we were almost there but the thought of
the 7km walk on the road back to the guesthouse was discouraging. I was
glad they showed up with the their motorbikes to take us back! I bought
them a round of beers to thank them for the lift and the rest of the
night was spent drinking with them. If you want to have a good time
drink beer with people from glorious nation Kazahkstan. They will marvel
at your size and arm wrestle you all night. They will also win because
they are strong like bull. They played music and sang and smoked a
ridiculous amount of cigarettes. Really good people.
-at one point I had to use the washroom. They told me just go outside in
the yard. I explained that I had to have a #2 and not a #1 and they said
"yeah, just go somewhere in the yard, W.C. hard to find". This is the
yard just outside the bunkhouse and beside the home of the owner. That
was weird. I found a nice little spot in the dark away from the house,
squatted down and did my thing. It was then I noticed little small piles
of white paper all around. It was a minefield of #2's!! In the morning I
got a good look at the WC (outhouse) as I had to use it. Pictures
attached. My god. The crapper situation in this country is dire. Way
worse than India in my opinion. Maybe its the contrast with the level of
other development in China but... WOW. It's bad.

The next day I wanted to go to Turpan but couldn't because the bus was
full. So instead of staying in Buerjin another night I made my way to
Altay for a night bus. It's not in the guidebook so I figured it might
be interesting. I had a good day walking around and checking out the
markets. People were very friendly as they don't get many westerners
there. I was also able to find a sunny place in a park to lay out my wet
laundry to dry.

Ok, I am off to bed for now but will continue this when I can. Going to
climb Mount Huashan in the morning. Google that and look at the pictures!

3 weeks in... the first few days.

2009-10-27T07:50:00.002+08:00

Hey everyone,

I know it's been awhile since I wrote anything so this email should be a doozy. I've done quite a bit of stuff and seen a lot of things and hopefully I'll remember a fair bit to write down. I know there's been a more than few times I've thought "oh, I should mention this in my next email!" To make things easier I've started a new blog site, http://joshskin.blogspot.com

Staying on Ko Chang:
As some of you know I am planning on building a small house on my favourite island in Thailand this year. Nothing fancy, just a place to call my 2nd home and travel to every year for RnR or however often I can. I have the land leased (foreigners can't own more than 49%) and when I got there I found that Mr Nigh (Moo's Burmese worker) had the land already mostly cleared of its brush and I just basically went over what I wanted done next ie, get rid of some dead tree stumps, where the well should go, etc. The big plan is to start building in December or January and those will probably be completely different kinds of updates. Burmese contractors will do most of the work as I have no idea where to start here but I will help with whatever it is they are doing, and buying materials etc. I was there about a week and most of that time was spent talking with Moo, drawing different designs, planning my China trip and exploring the island in rainy season. It rained every day - sometimes a brutal amount - and when it rains there... IT RAINS!! So although everyone thought I was heading off to paradise that wasn't exactly the case. I was still happier there though than work. ;) It was a totally different experience being on Ko Chang in the rainy season. Everything is closed so Moo's sister made our meals. Fantastic local homemade Thai food much different and simple than the backpacker fare. And of course the eating ritual is different when you're with the Thais too. Basically everyone gets a bowl of rice, and three or four dishes are put in the middle. You sit on the floor in a circle and use your spoon and chopsticks to take a little amount from the dishes and put it into your bowl. When it's just rice left in your bowl you take a few more spoonfuls. Soup is strange as it's often just one spoon in a big bowl and you all share it one mouthful at a time. Fantastic food though - sometimes ridiculously spicy or insanely sweet. Squash, sugar, and coconut milk... boil that up and it will change your life.

It was also cool to walk around the island and see what Mother Nature does during the rainy season. I was dumbfounded by the shear amount of plant growth! The entire beach in front of Sunset Bungalow was covered in a deep rooted plant. Moo says they take this out every year and I couldn't believe it. It was hard just to pull out one plant, let alone 100m worth! The beach was covered in garbage too - flip-flops, Red Bull bottles (Red Bull is from Thailand), plastic bags, food wrappers, lighters etc. I knew this from before, but it's still a shock to see. Every year Mother Nature recycles this trash by moving it from one side of the island to the other, then back again when rainy season ends. It's pretty incredible to witness actually. Literally one day there is beach, then the next its completely covered in garbage, sand carved into huge deep estuaries etc. 4 months later it reverses, literally overnight with the high tide.

On the 2nd of October I took the night bus from Ranong to Bangkok, arriving at 6am. I found a cheap room for 120baht ($4 CDN), cleaned up, slept a bit then started to look for flights to China. I still hadn't decided where to go. My original plan of hiking the Great Wall for a few weeks didn't make sense anymore because of the weather at this time of year so I looked for something different. Not wanting to go to Beijing without being able to see the Wall the way I wanted to I decided to start in the far West of the country and make my way SE, then South and again East to warmer climates. (That seems to be the current plan anyway). So I chose to fly to the capital city of Urumqi (pronounced Oo-roo-oom-chee) in Xinjiang province at 2am that night and begin my adventure. I also decided to make it a surprise to everyone I know so I left a vague message on Facebook but this turned out to be more of a surprise for me!

In July of this year (and then somewhat again in early September) the indigenous Uyghur people of the area protested against recent actions of the Han Chinese in regards to treatment of several factory workers in Guangdong province. It's a long story so if you're interested you can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_riots

As a result of the September riots, the Chinese government has disabled all cell phone text messaging, internet access, and international phone call service from the province (and Facebook and Youtube for the rest of the country). This meant that when I arrived I had no way to contact the outside world and hence update anyone on my exact whereabouts. Fun. I did try to send a few messages via another traveler who was heading out of the province but they apparently got corrupted on her USB stick and word didn't get out - good thing I cut my trip in Xinjiang province down to 10 days instead of the possible 3 weeks I was looking at.

I arrived in Urumqi via Shanghai at about 5pm after a cancelled flight, a subsequent delayed booking, and an argument with an airline check-in attendant about not having a return flight out of China (why would I NEED a return flight if I could just enter and exit overland anyway??). The first thing I noticed in China was the lack of English (more on that later) but I finally found my way into town and checked into the dorm of a fantastic hostel. After walking a little around the city the second thing I noticed was how cold it was at night and that I would need some warmer clothes than the shorts I was packing from Thailand. I went back to the hostel and found three Chilean, German and Australian travelers. We went for dinner and I had my first "real" Chinese food (again, more on that later).

The next day I went in search of some warm clothes. Thinking I would lose a few pounds while I was overseas (as I always do) the pants I originally brought were fairly tight so I picked up a couple more pair, a sweater and good outdoor jacket. The "Goretex" shell and fleece insert says Columbia, and is really good quality. It was also quite a bit more expensive than the other "Columbia" jackets in the shop ($60 Cdn vs $30) and considering everything we wear is made in China anyway it's entirely possible it could be an original. Real or not, it's been awesome! Waterproof, warm, and hasn't fallen apart. So, prepped with some decent clothes (and a now heavy backpack) I decided to head as far north as I could to the border with Russia and Mongolia and a place called Kanas Lake.

More to come soon... today I am in a big city called Xian and am off to see the famous Terracotta Warriors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army

My plan here is to write out where I've been and the highlights from each place instead of taking you on a long drawn out diary. I'll also update you on my take so far with the people, transportation, food etc. In the meantime, you can click on the pins on the map below to see my own brief notes.

Cursed jet lag...

2009-10-18T14:20:00.001+08:00

This was my first email out, September 24th, but now that I've got the
Blog going I may as well add it...

I am laying on the floor at Moo and Leks place in Surat thani. It's 5
am. I am 3 days in now and the jet lag is messing me up. Dead tired by
8pm then wide awake by 4am. It'll pass soon enough. I am usualy pretty
good at missing the effects by forcing myself to stay awake and/or sleep
during the flight at the right times but I think I was so tired leaving
Canada this time that my body is completely confused!

The flight stopped in japan for 5 hours and instead of waiting in the
airport I decided to visit Narita town. Narita is the city the Tokyo
airport is actually outside of. With no knowledge of anything I grabbed
a map, hopped in a subway and appeared in it's streets. I wandered
around what seemed to be a tourist town of sorts but quickly fell in
love with it's coolness. Tiny shops huddled together with miniature cars
weaving through it's miniature streets. Apart fromthe trinket shops were
sushi restaraunts and beer bars. The people overwhelmingly polite and
friendly. Eventually the street I was on led me to a 1000 year old
temple called Shinshoji Temple that seems to be a famous spot. It had
elaborate carvings on some of it's stupas but the grounds were what
amazed me. Detailed landscaping with massive koi fish in it's ponds. I
walked down through a park and felt so peaceful among the trees and
cobbled trail. The air smelled fresh and earthy with small birds and
insects filling in for the hum and drone of the747 I had come in on.
Just perfect. Walking back to the subway I stopped in for some sushi at
a tiny little hole in the wall and watched sumo wrestling on the tv in
the corner. (I don't understand why it takes so long for them to fight
between rounds.) after a secoond cup of green tea I was off back to the
airport. Simply the best layover I've ever had. Absolutely perfect.
I arrived in Bangkok and just missedthe last midnight shutle bus by 5
minutes. Everyone knows that Murphys laws were sculpted around me and I
can tell you exactly it was the moment when the baggage carousel
suddenly spit out 200 bags at once and instead of anyone trying to
organize the bags just watched as they backed up at the end of the
conveyor, falling on top of oneanother until eventually they seized the
machine. It took about 10 minutes for someone to clear the jam and get
it going again.

A wall of thick humidty to push through and i was Into a cab and on my
way to khaosan rd. A much love hate relationship with that backpacker
ghetto. It's familiar and has everything you need but it's the furthest
thing you can get from Thailand and still actually be in Bangkok. There
was a new smell this year to add a layer to the usual smog and frying
foods. I am not sure what it is. The sweat of a thousand dirty tourists
or the mange of 10000 stray dogs. I checked in to a guesthouse, bought a
big Chang beer and sat on my bed until the sweat had sufficiently
stopped. It was about 230am and I couldn't sleep so I walked around bit.
With everything closed I was only able to buy a phone card and check in
on some stuff left over from home on the Internet.

The next day I woke up around noon and paid to keep my room till 6pm
when my train would leave. I spent the day picking up last minute
supplies and eating and drinking all the things I missed from Bangkok.
Radna noodles with pork, banana shakes and spring rolls. I looked around
for the same old vendors to see who was left (no more shake man. I
wonder where he is now?) and checked out the latest tshirt trends on
khaosan. As the afternoon ended the grey clouds of the rainy season
appeared and I thought that if I wasgoi g to take the bus to the trains
station I should go now to avoid the downpour. I packed up everything
and just got to the street when it dumped down. A cab it was then!
The train was comfortable. I sat with a young French guy just starting
the trip of his lifetime and gave him some tips. "DO go with strangers
if it feels safe." Trusting that there's more good than bad in this
world repays you in ways you can't imagine.

I arrived an hour behind schedule at Surat thani at 730 am. Moo picked
me up in his truck and we went to visit a friend of his for tea. Then
off to their house to say hello to Lek and to see his new grandson,
Ocean. We spent the day talking and picking up supplies for ko chang.
Moo is getting a new 2nd hand genrator this year and he needed to check
on it's progress at the engine shop. We'll pick it up today and get
everything ready for the drive to ko chang tomorrow.

Well it looks like people are waking so I will end this. Hope everyone
is good. I didn't have plans for a blog but I'll figure something out
shortly...