Ray, Silk Road. Lanzhou and Xiahe(show-who) June 4, 2010
Arrived in Lanzhou at 6:30AM it was a rather rough night train(we are now 2500 km West of Beijing). Train tracks were noisy and rough. Had Breakfast of beef noodles (noodles and beef broth with hot chili…very good and local specialty). Boarded bus for 3 hours then by boat to the1000 Buddhist caves at Binglingsi…actually only 170 survive after the 2nd largest dam/reservoir constructed on the Yellow river. Impressive site and in process of much needed repair. Then boat back to bus and 3 hours to Xiahe for two nights (Tibetan autonomous region of China). It is at 9700ft and cold…I did not pack for this so may end up with a Tibetan coat. This is part of the old Tibet and the people look very different…darker, taller, faces more angular and large noses and the women’s cheeks are bright red. Rather handsome lot I must say. Some of the men are quite fierce looking, dressed in combination of our old west…boots, hats, and very large heavy coats. The sleeves are tied around their waist at mid day and in AM/PM used as a cape…seldom using the sleeves. Women dress the same and both have gorgeous silver decorated leather belts. Some men carry side arms or knives. Sorry to say that no one looks bathed. Must be tight extended families….often see young mothers passing the babies off to the grandmother who beams with pleasure and stuffs the baby in under her heavy garments. This is a town filled with Buddhist monks at a very famous monastery is here with 1000-1800 monks.
One member, Tom is ill…he and Allison are a lovely couple, just retired teaching. He is in treatment for prostate cancer so tired a lot. Then there is Brian and Julie I know little of them except for the bad habit of being late, easily lost, and being the food “cleaner for the group”, skinny as a rail and eats like a horse. One eve we were to leave at 7PM sharp, so at 7 Brian decides to take a shower and we wait. He eats only bread for breakfast (10 slices) and won’t spend money on food but at a group meal he is voracious and a real pig. We get to the train station and part of a crowd of 1000’s and following the guide through them Brian decides to stop and change shoes. What a hoot. And then there is “Dragon Lady”, now she is a piece of work…going down the steps at train station…very steep and very long like subway in NY…she decides to walk her roller suitcase (of course the largest suitcase in the group) down a smooth section in the middle….slips on her butt and lets go of the suitcase which careens on down knocking little ol” Chinese over like bowling pins. The group ignores her so has taken to following any two persons who are talking and loudly interjecting her “expert thoughts” on any and all subjects.
Another lovely couple Jeff and Camellia are fun to be with and he is a wealth of knowledge…too bad they spin off in Kashgar. He is a geologist, metallurgist, and hobby historian. Judy is quiet just retired and has recently lost several friends to disease…very nice conversationalist and won’t try any new food! She came with Ian and Tanya who are quiet and off by themselves…he is a real camera operator and both are experienced travelers. Paula so far is a very nice airhead . Bev is a very nice semi retired teacher of teachers in the methods of math for elementary kids and an artist of some talent. Julia I know little about at this point. Had a lovely little meal tonight in a Tibetan restaurant ….yak yogurt mixed with honey, spicy bean curd and local mushrooms and Bok Chou …delicious and a beer for $4.00. Tomorrow we visit the Labrang Monastery of the Gelugpa Sect of Buddha (yellow hat sect). E’angzongzhe ? the head is 2nd only to the Dalai Lama and the Panchem Lama in Buddhism.
What a place, about 1800 monks including teachers and students. Apparently this is one of only six great teaching monasteries and I believe 2nd only to Lhasa……they have schools of philosophy, medicine, music/dance, can’t recall the others. We visited the shrine of each of the schools. But it was almost revolting while beautiful. Turns out all candles burning, many offerings, and hard to believe many “paintings” are of Yak Butter…and it smells rancid….no very rancid. I have pictures of some of the Yak Butter creations as it is hard to believe what one sees…many bright colors which turn dark over time. And the awful stench of sour yak butter is everywhere and worse the Monks reek of it and my guess is they never wash their robes…they are filthy and have the odor of body and yak smell. The monks never work…only study and receive lots of money from their followers. The Tibetians are a very religious group and nearly everyone is mumbling a manta or prayer all the time on the street and carrying there beads. Oh yes Dragon lady today took over the conversation with our special guide and then attempted to lecture us on what she learned. Since she has traveled to Nepal she is the Buddha expert.
This PM we traveled to the grasslands of the nomads…thousands of sheep and yak. A small 2 room cement block building every ½ mile or so. We stopped at a herders place for several hours to visit. She operated a temporary loom in the field where they weave a piece about 12 inches wide and perhaps 30 plus feet long. Material is wool. They then sew the pieces together to create larger pieces. Later she invited us inside for food. 9 of us in a room 10 by 16 with bed/table combo and a large hot stove heating yak milk and yak tea. Served yak tea, puffy flat bread, and then made little balls (golf ball size) out of combining yak milk, barley flour, yak butter and yak cheese. Rather tasteless but our Tibetan guide ate a bowl and claims it makes for flat belly and you only need one meal a day. That was my birthday celebration and they sang happy birthday for me. No one would believe my age of 67 (all guessing I was in my 50,s). That made them wonder why I did not hear so well…and Trissi I did not have the heart to tell them. That was a lift and a gift. (Of course dragon lady had to spill her yak milk all over the owner’s electronic equipment).
Back to the streets today…where the men and women are crouched in little circles bidding on the price for a special herb, only available once a year…valued as “invigorating”….sort of universal to seek such an item. I did not buy as Kathy was not along!!! Apparently they use a secret process of bidding and one group never knows what another pays. They have wads of money like Vegas and little brass scales. The guide said it is valued same as gold. I have pictures.
Tonight a wonderful birthday celebration …the staff of the hotel sang Tibetan songs, then the Tibetan guide sang some songs followed by a gorgeous cake and a special candle that opens like a lotus and a candle burning at the end of each flower petal. Very lovely. I made sure all the hotel staff got a piece of cake which was much appreciated. They were young Tibetan girls with long black braided hair and bright red cheeks…it is not makeup and appears rubbed raw or a result of the altitude.
Left via different route through incredible arid mountains that are terraced as nothing I have ever seen…for 50 miles….a real bread basket.
In Xiahe there are more military…saw several bus loads…never felt any threat from them only smiles. More poverty here or is it the nomad way of life….herders, farmers etc verses big city life. All streets dug up for new water and sewer lines but not much new building.
One observation is every large city appears to be recently rebuilt (they level blocks of the old the build brand new)….wonder what they will look like in 30 years if they don’t clean in the air pollution. They quality looks good and of course the infrastructure is new….roads, sewer, water, electric.
Overnight train to Jia yu guan to the Hexi corridor, lots of desert and the end of the Great Wall. We will be approx 3300 miles west of Beijing perhaps more. I slept, with the aid of a pill. We left at 10:30 and arrived at 6:15AM …This is a new city built from scratch starting in 1958 and still under construction. Population of 250,000 and all Chinese brought into to work the refineries for iron ore which is abundant in the surrounding mountains.
Last eve had the worst meal of the trip….ate in a “western restaurant”…they served warm beer out of the case and would not replace it with cold, the food was grease, and the pizza too spicy to eat (actually Brian the cleaner ate all of mine and parts of two others) and the bill was more than any we have paid elsewhere. Whole group was revolted. Back to noodles, rice, yogurt and dumplings.
Next correspondence from Jia yu guan.
One member, Tom is ill…he and Allison are a lovely couple, just retired teaching. He is in treatment for prostate cancer so tired a lot. Then there is Brian and Julie I know little of them except for the bad habit of being late, easily lost, and being the food “cleaner for the group”, skinny as a rail and eats like a horse. One eve we were to leave at 7PM sharp, so at 7 Brian decides to take a shower and we wait. He eats only bread for breakfast (10 slices) and won’t spend money on food but at a group meal he is voracious and a real pig. We get to the train station and part of a crowd of 1000’s and following the guide through them Brian decides to stop and change shoes. What a hoot. And then there is “Dragon Lady”, now she is a piece of work…going down the steps at train station…very steep and very long like subway in NY…she decides to walk her roller suitcase (of course the largest suitcase in the group) down a smooth section in the middle….slips on her butt and lets go of the suitcase which careens on down knocking little ol” Chinese over like bowling pins. The group ignores her so has taken to following any two persons who are talking and loudly interjecting her “expert thoughts” on any and all subjects.
Another lovely couple Jeff and Camellia are fun to be with and he is a wealth of knowledge…too bad they spin off in Kashgar. He is a geologist, metallurgist, and hobby historian. Judy is quiet just retired and has recently lost several friends to disease…very nice conversationalist and won’t try any new food! She came with Ian and Tanya who are quiet and off by themselves…he is a real camera operator and both are experienced travelers. Paula so far is a very nice airhead . Bev is a very nice semi retired teacher of teachers in the methods of math for elementary kids and an artist of some talent. Julia I know little about at this point. Had a lovely little meal tonight in a Tibetan restaurant ….yak yogurt mixed with honey, spicy bean curd and local mushrooms and Bok Chou …delicious and a beer for $4.00. Tomorrow we visit the Labrang Monastery of the Gelugpa Sect of Buddha (yellow hat sect). E’angzongzhe ? the head is 2nd only to the Dalai Lama and the Panchem Lama in Buddhism.
What a place, about 1800 monks including teachers and students. Apparently this is one of only six great teaching monasteries and I believe 2nd only to Lhasa……they have schools of philosophy, medicine, music/dance, can’t recall the others. We visited the shrine of each of the schools. But it was almost revolting while beautiful. Turns out all candles burning, many offerings, and hard to believe many “paintings” are of Yak Butter…and it smells rancid….no very rancid. I have pictures of some of the Yak Butter creations as it is hard to believe what one sees…many bright colors which turn dark over time. And the awful stench of sour yak butter is everywhere and worse the Monks reek of it and my guess is they never wash their robes…they are filthy and have the odor of body and yak smell. The monks never work…only study and receive lots of money from their followers. The Tibetians are a very religious group and nearly everyone is mumbling a manta or prayer all the time on the street and carrying there beads. Oh yes Dragon lady today took over the conversation with our special guide and then attempted to lecture us on what she learned. Since she has traveled to Nepal she is the Buddha expert.
This PM we traveled to the grasslands of the nomads…thousands of sheep and yak. A small 2 room cement block building every ½ mile or so. We stopped at a herders place for several hours to visit. She operated a temporary loom in the field where they weave a piece about 12 inches wide and perhaps 30 plus feet long. Material is wool. They then sew the pieces together to create larger pieces. Later she invited us inside for food. 9 of us in a room 10 by 16 with bed/table combo and a large hot stove heating yak milk and yak tea. Served yak tea, puffy flat bread, and then made little balls (golf ball size) out of combining yak milk, barley flour, yak butter and yak cheese. Rather tasteless but our Tibetan guide ate a bowl and claims it makes for flat belly and you only need one meal a day. That was my birthday celebration and they sang happy birthday for me. No one would believe my age of 67 (all guessing I was in my 50,s). That made them wonder why I did not hear so well…and Trissi I did not have the heart to tell them. That was a lift and a gift. (Of course dragon lady had to spill her yak milk all over the owner’s electronic equipment).
Back to the streets today…where the men and women are crouched in little circles bidding on the price for a special herb, only available once a year…valued as “invigorating”….sort of universal to seek such an item. I did not buy as Kathy was not along!!! Apparently they use a secret process of bidding and one group never knows what another pays. They have wads of money like Vegas and little brass scales. The guide said it is valued same as gold. I have pictures.
Tonight a wonderful birthday celebration …the staff of the hotel sang Tibetan songs, then the Tibetan guide sang some songs followed by a gorgeous cake and a special candle that opens like a lotus and a candle burning at the end of each flower petal. Very lovely. I made sure all the hotel staff got a piece of cake which was much appreciated. They were young Tibetan girls with long black braided hair and bright red cheeks…it is not makeup and appears rubbed raw or a result of the altitude.
Left via different route through incredible arid mountains that are terraced as nothing I have ever seen…for 50 miles….a real bread basket.
In Xiahe there are more military…saw several bus loads…never felt any threat from them only smiles. More poverty here or is it the nomad way of life….herders, farmers etc verses big city life. All streets dug up for new water and sewer lines but not much new building.
One observation is every large city appears to be recently rebuilt (they level blocks of the old the build brand new)….wonder what they will look like in 30 years if they don’t clean in the air pollution. They quality looks good and of course the infrastructure is new….roads, sewer, water, electric.
Overnight train to Jia yu guan to the Hexi corridor, lots of desert and the end of the Great Wall. We will be approx 3300 miles west of Beijing perhaps more. I slept, with the aid of a pill. We left at 10:30 and arrived at 6:15AM …This is a new city built from scratch starting in 1958 and still under construction. Population of 250,000 and all Chinese brought into to work the refineries for iron ore which is abundant in the surrounding mountains.
Last eve had the worst meal of the trip….ate in a “western restaurant”…they served warm beer out of the case and would not replace it with cold, the food was grease, and the pizza too spicy to eat (actually Brian the cleaner ate all of mine and parts of two others) and the bill was more than any we have paid elsewhere. Whole group was revolted. Back to noodles, rice, yogurt and dumplings.
Next correspondence from Jia yu guan.
posted by bollerud at 4:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home