We're back, and sorting through our 600-some-odd photos. At the beginning of the set, there is a picture of our bed, covered in the clothes and items we planned to bring to Asia. Square in the middle of the frame, our dear little gray cat is taking a nap. When Eric opened the photos today, I felt a physical response to seeing my little cat- I miss him! We have to wait another full month before we see him, and then another month after that before we can bring him up to Montreal (we want to be settled first... it reduces the chances that he'll indicate his discomfort with the new place by emptying his bladder). Its funny how when you travel there are certain things that you miss so deeply it is hard to imagine what it will be like to see them again- almost like you can't imagine that you will. But even just five days ago, it seemed unreal that we could fly--in one day-- all the way to Canada and return to our homeland. It must have been something else to travel the way they did before planes- our return trip would have taken the better part of a year. Our whole Asia trip probably would have taken over a year even at a break-neck speed.
But we are back. We are with Eric's parents in Victoria, having spent our first night in Vancouver chez Aaron (some of you may recall that he was "the best man at our wedding". Incidentally, now Eric has the opportunity to be the best man at Aaron's wedding...). The re-entry process was a heady mixture of elation at the clean air and clear skies and culture shock. I went to buy a copy of the Economist (we have been starving for un-censored news), and get this... the guy behind the counter spoke English like a native! I was mute in my surprise. I think he thought I might've been ill. That night, we went to execute our long-awaited plan to make Betty Crocker Brownies and watch a movie. I think the woman in the movie story thought we were off our rockers or on something else- we were so giddy at the ease at which our transactions were taking place, and could barely hold it together long enough to make it up to Aaron's apartment and collapse on his couch.
Re-entry.
Everyone, let me tell you something that is *true*. In North America, we are living in paradise. And I don't mean to just sing that Peter Gabriel song. It is really true. The air in LA seems clear compared to even a "small" city (by Asian standards) like Ulaanbaatar (population 1 million). A reminder: Xi'An's population is 6 million, and Beijing is more like 20 million, I think. I could look it up in the Lonely Planet Guidebook (which we have been calling the China Brick due to its size), but I need a little break from it right now. It was literally our bible on the trip- we consulted it multiple times a day. When we got off the bus from the airport in downtown Vancouver, I just gulped the air, deep breath after deep breath, and drank in the clear skies and distant snow-capped mountains with my eyes and heart. Victoria is even better- yesterday I went for a run in Mount Doug Park, which is right beside Eric's house, and ran up to the top of the hill. From the top, I could see probably 100 miles (?). To the south, the Olympics rose up through their snow mantel into the sky. To the southeast, Mount Baker lept up high, all its snow-capped shoulders gleaming in their glory. And to the east, the Coastal Range wove its way north, still powdery and white. Between those mountains and myself, the Georgia Straight was deep blue with darker pockets from the wind, and the City of Victoria is just busting out its green and spring flowers. I could've flown.
I am still reeling in the beauty of this country, and also the re-entry treats like eating home-cooked food (local salmon! Potatoes and broccoli from Eric's dad's garden! Chicken cordon bleu!! and Roger's CHOCOLATES!!! For those of you who haven't been blessed with visiting Victoria (what are you waiting for?), Roger's chocolates are the absolute best, and I have been very much looking forward to them, and so Eric's parents bought us a nice big box). We have now washed all of our grimy clothes, even our back-packs and my narsty sneakers. Everything smells like fresh air now. When we first returned, I could still smell China on our clothes, the way a coffee-shop smell (especially Starbucks) will stick to you after you've stayed for a while.
We have a few stories we wanted to tell about Tibet, but were afraid to post them while we were still in China. Unfortunately, they are sad stories. For anyone who thought Tibet had kind of stabilized, be prepared to hear a different perspective. Maybe you all knew this stuff, but I sure didn't. When we arrived at Nam Tso Lake, we heard from our fellow travelers that the previous week there had been a police-monk face off at the Ganden Monastary near Lhasa. We are not sure about the details since the Chinese press quickly quelled the stories. Apparently the monks had raised a Tibetan flag (a no-no), or printed some forbidden materials, or something along those lines. The police arrived and there was some kind of struggle, and there are reports that from 2 to 6 monks were shot and killed. Another 200 monks were arrested and put in jail, which means they cannot go back to the monastery when (if) they are released. We don't know the full extent of this story, but we tell it to you know because we feel it is important to know that there is still a conflict between the Tibetans and China. We also heard a story of a Tibetan merchant being hit in the back of the knees by a policeman in front of a Canadian tourist and the Tibetan's family, all because the merchant and the Canadian were doing more than just an exchange of goods- although what they were doing beyond talking is unclear (and it may not have been more than that).
Eric also overheard a tour guide explaining to a few english-speaking Europeans about the penchant lama (who is the next highest lama after the Dalia Lama). What *we* knew about the penchant lama was that the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government agreed on who it would be, but the government was hesitant to announce him. The Dalai Lama was worried they would change their minds, so he announced the penchant lama to the Tibetans. A few weeks later, the boy and his family disappeared. Some people say they don't know where he is and fear that he may be dead. But according to the tour guide that Eric overheard, the boy is alive and well in Beijing, and in fact Tibet sends many of their lamas to Beijing to be "educated". It is so hard to get a straight story on all of this. We talked to the two british journalists we met in Zhongdian, and they couldn't really clear it up for us. One had written an article in the London Times about the penchant lama, but that was confusing too because it didn't acknowledge the story about that boy and his family disappearing. So if anyone knows anything else about this, we would love to find out more. We are going to research it online now that we're back.
The fact that we are back is slowly sinking in. I'm still a bit surprised in the morning when I wake up to the BC sunshine and can go do yoga outside, uninterrupted, on the green grass in the cool morning air. You may think this means that I didn't have fun on the trip. But that isn't the case. The thing is, we did more than have fun- we really saw this trip as a chance to *learn* and to reflect on our own homes and ourselves. Compared to what I am used to, many people in Asia make do with sooo little. You all know that, and I knew it before I went. But somehow, seeing it and living it ourselves has made me so grateful for what I have in North America, and I have renewed my pledge to work to preserve the natural beauty of this place and promote harmonious communities. I won't start spouting cliches, but I will say once again that in North America we are living in paradise.
I am grateful to have had the chance to remember that.
And now a few more thank you's...
Thank you to mom and dad for taking care of all our odds and ends back in Boston, including many plants and our bikes and some summer clothes, kitchen essentials, sports equipment and footware and frisbees.
Thank you to Dawn and Barry (Eric's folks) for hoisting our big backpacks (the ones we left behind) back to Victoria so that we'll have all our hiking equipment for our trip next week, and for allowing us the space and support we needed to recouperate!
Thank you to Patricia and Bruce (Eric's aunt and uncle) for being our launching pad in Vancouver and saving our butts when it came to the realities of currency and the real differences between the US and Canada.
Thank you to Aaron and Vanessa for providing a cozy home to depart from and return to on our way to and from the Vancouver Airport (and for providing us with some good local stories about engagements and the Boston Marathon- congrads!!!)
Thank you to Jeremy and Aislin for taking care of our little gray kitty!
Thank you to Wan Wei for being our friend and guide in Beijing and our "man on the ground" while we traveled.
Thank you to Xi Fangshuo and the Xi family for taking us under your wings in Xi'an.
Thank you to Oyun for inviting us to Mongolia and inspiring our whirlwind trip to Asia (along with Wan Wei and Fangshuo!)
Thank you to the Father of the Pudgy Jewel (my brother) for blog up-keep.
And finally, and I mean it, thank you to everyone who has been reading this blog. It has been very fun to write (turns out I like writing), and it has meant a lot to me (well, to both of us!) to know that you have been following us through this adventure.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
Nearing the end of the Asia trip
We are into the last couple of days of the Asia trip, back in Beijing. I (Eric) feel like it is a time for relfecting, and savoring the last sweet moments of the culture - you know, the early morning sounds of people hoarking on the streets, and deep breaths of particulate matter in the Beijing air. Really though it has been a great trip. We have been lucky to meet some really interesting people who are following their dreams - a student in his 20's who got funding from his university to come to Mongolia with another student, where they bought 5 horses (not knowing how to ride them), and travelled across the landscape for 2 months with a translator, filming the story; a 60-ish year old environmental lawyer who is volunteering in Mongolia to improve the lageal system so that court cases have a better chance of having a fair ruling and appropriate implementation; and an Indian/Scottish kilt-wearing senior consultant who is helping the Mongioan Ministry of Health create a well-supported master health plan, and implement it over the next 10 years. We have been so lucky, by the kindness of Betsy's family hosting 2 boys from China at their homes for several months, and the kindness of those boys and their families to host us in Beijing and Xi'an, and helping us better understand life in China. And lots of other people too.
We are really looking forward to going back to Canada, and spending time with family and friends in B.C. for a month. If we had more time though and didn't have job and other commitments, I feel like I could have easily travelled for longer. There are many opportunities to improve public health in Mongolia that I could be exited about helping with. Amazingly, they still use leaded gas there; mercury is used by many Mongolians to bind to gold during the mining process, and then they frequently evaporate the mercury in their homes - throat cancer is the 3rd leading cause of cancer in Mongolia. I should still be able to be involved hopefully - we are considering writing a grant to provide epidemiology and biostatistical training to researchers, and people who interpret the research, at the Ministry of Health - so that determinants of health can be better assessed... maybe a McGill-Mongolian Government collaboration if possible.
Tomorrow we are off to hike a 9 km section of the Great Wall. Spring has arrived in Beijing - cherry blossoms, leaves on the trees and warm air. Aaah. The day after tomorrow, we fly to Vancouver, to visit Aaron, and then the next to see my family in Victoria! We are already thinking about the pear-apple sauce my family makes from their orchard, jogging in Mount Doug park behind our house, and playing tag or other games with our niece and nephew Mairi and Logan.
We are really looking forward to going back to Canada, and spending time with family and friends in B.C. for a month. If we had more time though and didn't have job and other commitments, I feel like I could have easily travelled for longer. There are many opportunities to improve public health in Mongolia that I could be exited about helping with. Amazingly, they still use leaded gas there; mercury is used by many Mongolians to bind to gold during the mining process, and then they frequently evaporate the mercury in their homes - throat cancer is the 3rd leading cause of cancer in Mongolia. I should still be able to be involved hopefully - we are considering writing a grant to provide epidemiology and biostatistical training to researchers, and people who interpret the research, at the Ministry of Health - so that determinants of health can be better assessed... maybe a McGill-Mongolian Government collaboration if possible.
Tomorrow we are off to hike a 9 km section of the Great Wall. Spring has arrived in Beijing - cherry blossoms, leaves on the trees and warm air. Aaah. The day after tomorrow, we fly to Vancouver, to visit Aaron, and then the next to see my family in Victoria! We are already thinking about the pear-apple sauce my family makes from their orchard, jogging in Mount Doug park behind our house, and playing tag or other games with our niece and nephew Mairi and Logan.
photos of Mongolia
Here are some photos from our stint in Mongolia... mostly from the Terelj National Park (that is not a typo). See if you can find the rock camel. There is a real camel too- they are called Bactrian Camels, and Mongolia, western China and Kerzykstan are the only countries in the world that have the 2 humped camels. You also see here two very different gers- one is the one we stayed in at the national park, with our escort dawggy (free of charge) in the front. The other is an urban ger, which we just passed by, but are all over the place in Ulaanbaatar city.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
"the best time"
Today we went to an art museum where we saw many paintings with the same title: "The Best Time." They were these huge landscape paintings of the Mongolian Steppes (looked up the spelling) in the summertime and autumn. Bright swaths of colors- blue sky, bright green plains, colorful horses, white round gers with brightly painted doors, children in purple or blue or pink traditional clothes playing with colts or riding camels.... it sure does look like a good time to me.
Unfortunately, it seems we are in Mongolia at the opposite time of those described in this painting. Its almost like we've caught the country when it is indecent... the blankets of snow have receded but the new blankets of summer grass and trees have not yet covered its white and brown bones. So since we returned from the countryside, it has been a pretty urban experience.
Eric has been teaching his course- yesterday was the last of 3 days. In between teaching, we have met with a number of people from the Mongolian Ministry of Health, including the mastermind behind their new strategic plan for public health improvement. He was a brilliant and kind man, and the conversation was fascinating and also confirmed some of the ideas we have both begun to have about international (and local, for that matter) public health improvement. You need broad-based buy-in... the people who are most effected by the new programs have to feel like they *own* the new programs- like they reflect their ideas and respond to what *they* have identified as their own needs. You all know this. HE also gave us some nice teaching advice: The role of the teacher is not to bring the student to the edge of the teacher's knowledge: it is to bring the student to the edge of their own knowledge. We like it. Eric is trying to drum up some collaborations with these guys, so who knows, maybe one day we'll be back. Hopefully we'll time it so that we come at "The Best Time".
In case some of you have paused over the past week and thought "I wonder what Betsy and Eric are doing right now", I thought I'd let you know that we were probably walking, trying to find a new restaurant or cafe, as listed in lonely planet. For the first three days we could not find any of the restaurants listed in LP, so we kept returning to what we called Restaurant A, B or C. Restaurants' A and C are actually the same chain of dutch or german pastries, so they really just count for one. We like the pastries. But we were getting a little tired of them, and began to notice that it seemed we were the only ones eating the pastries (by count of the remaining danishes on the plate). Happily yesterday we tried some new seeking strategies and discovered the restuarants of Lonely Planet fame, and were well rewarded. We took our host, Oyun, to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Brauhaus. Yep, its a big german stakehouse. She doesn't like to go out for Mongolian food because she and her mom cook it better than the restaurants (true- we can attest). And my lamb was tastey. I don't need to have any more beef tongue, though, which was the appetizer.
You may have noticed that I write about food a lot. I guess thats one of the things that is most different. THankfully Mongolia has a lot more chocolate available than China. I was in danger there for a little while, until we found Nusica (aka Nutella, or chocolate hazelnut spread...).
The language here is really different too- it is kind of hushed and full of a lot of "th" and "sh" sounds and just aspirated vowels. Its a nice change from Chinese, who, as one fellow travel said "are anything but quiet". And its refreshing to see many Mongolians wearing the same outfits they probably have been wearing for centuries- these long beautiful robes made of wool or silk, with a silk scarf tied around like a belt, or a big thick leather belt with a big silver buckle. And they wear these huge boots with turned up toes, that are often emboidered or have some carved decoration. You can understand why they dress this way when the sun goes behind a cloud....
Tomorrow we head to Beijing, and in two more days we fly back to Canada! As this trip wraps up, I thought I'd share something I wrote in my journal a few weeks ago, after we left our little group of fellow travelers in Lhasa:
I have been thinking lately about how much I love this kind of traveling-- and how this travel community is always out there--with all of its personality and learning about each other's cultures while at dinner in a completely different one. The three dinners we had in Tibet with Sara and Matt (the 2 canooks Eric knew from home) were an example of what we seek when we travel. We're seeking to learn about the world--what is so different than where we are from-- but then we're also seeking the things that are familiar: we're looking for similarities with other travelers... to learn about ourselves.
Mission accomplished.
Now I just need a long, deep dose of the wilderness of British Columbia. Oh and a few servings of Eric's folk's pear apple sauce.
Don't worry, there will be another posting or two- especially if we do a good hike in BC, and we have some photos to upload.
xo
betsy
Unfortunately, it seems we are in Mongolia at the opposite time of those described in this painting. Its almost like we've caught the country when it is indecent... the blankets of snow have receded but the new blankets of summer grass and trees have not yet covered its white and brown bones. So since we returned from the countryside, it has been a pretty urban experience.
Eric has been teaching his course- yesterday was the last of 3 days. In between teaching, we have met with a number of people from the Mongolian Ministry of Health, including the mastermind behind their new strategic plan for public health improvement. He was a brilliant and kind man, and the conversation was fascinating and also confirmed some of the ideas we have both begun to have about international (and local, for that matter) public health improvement. You need broad-based buy-in... the people who are most effected by the new programs have to feel like they *own* the new programs- like they reflect their ideas and respond to what *they* have identified as their own needs. You all know this. HE also gave us some nice teaching advice: The role of the teacher is not to bring the student to the edge of the teacher's knowledge: it is to bring the student to the edge of their own knowledge. We like it. Eric is trying to drum up some collaborations with these guys, so who knows, maybe one day we'll be back. Hopefully we'll time it so that we come at "The Best Time".
In case some of you have paused over the past week and thought "I wonder what Betsy and Eric are doing right now", I thought I'd let you know that we were probably walking, trying to find a new restaurant or cafe, as listed in lonely planet. For the first three days we could not find any of the restaurants listed in LP, so we kept returning to what we called Restaurant A, B or C. Restaurants' A and C are actually the same chain of dutch or german pastries, so they really just count for one. We like the pastries. But we were getting a little tired of them, and began to notice that it seemed we were the only ones eating the pastries (by count of the remaining danishes on the plate). Happily yesterday we tried some new seeking strategies and discovered the restuarants of Lonely Planet fame, and were well rewarded. We took our host, Oyun, to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Brauhaus. Yep, its a big german stakehouse. She doesn't like to go out for Mongolian food because she and her mom cook it better than the restaurants (true- we can attest). And my lamb was tastey. I don't need to have any more beef tongue, though, which was the appetizer.
You may have noticed that I write about food a lot. I guess thats one of the things that is most different. THankfully Mongolia has a lot more chocolate available than China. I was in danger there for a little while, until we found Nusica (aka Nutella, or chocolate hazelnut spread...).
The language here is really different too- it is kind of hushed and full of a lot of "th" and "sh" sounds and just aspirated vowels. Its a nice change from Chinese, who, as one fellow travel said "are anything but quiet". And its refreshing to see many Mongolians wearing the same outfits they probably have been wearing for centuries- these long beautiful robes made of wool or silk, with a silk scarf tied around like a belt, or a big thick leather belt with a big silver buckle. And they wear these huge boots with turned up toes, that are often emboidered or have some carved decoration. You can understand why they dress this way when the sun goes behind a cloud....
Tomorrow we head to Beijing, and in two more days we fly back to Canada! As this trip wraps up, I thought I'd share something I wrote in my journal a few weeks ago, after we left our little group of fellow travelers in Lhasa:
I have been thinking lately about how much I love this kind of traveling-- and how this travel community is always out there--with all of its personality and learning about each other's cultures while at dinner in a completely different one. The three dinners we had in Tibet with Sara and Matt (the 2 canooks Eric knew from home) were an example of what we seek when we travel. We're seeking to learn about the world--what is so different than where we are from-- but then we're also seeking the things that are familiar: we're looking for similarities with other travelers... to learn about ourselves.
Mission accomplished.
Now I just need a long, deep dose of the wilderness of British Columbia. Oh and a few servings of Eric's folk's pear apple sauce.
Don't worry, there will be another posting or two- especially if we do a good hike in BC, and we have some photos to upload.
xo
betsy
Saturday, April 22, 2006
three days on the steps
IS that how you spell "Steps"? Doesn't quite look right to me. Well, we were there, no matter how you spell it. This morning we returned from a 3 day trip about 100km north of Ulaanbaatar (which is to say, we were north of the middle of nowhere). The road out of town was narrow and bumpy to begin with, and then sort of petered out all together after about an hour. We were driving through wide open, rolling hills and plains. It is spring here, although only the trained eye knows it. The ground is brown and there is absolutely no sign of green. Well, except for this one totally random golf course, where we could see at least 10 little putting greens that were almost florescent in comparison to the surrounding brown. There were conifers and decidious, but neither had any leaves or even needles. We passed herds of cows, yaks, horses, goats, sheep and the occasional super wooly knock-kneed, tufted-humped camel. Finally we came to our ger camp, where the van deposited the 7 of us and quickly departed.
We had thought we'd be sharing the adventure with these two other couples and a woman from Korea, but we were quickly stowed away in our own private ger (that's mongolian for "yurt") , with two beds each and a small stove in the middle. Shortly after we arrived, we headed out for a hike in the hills. There were HUGE rock formations, big sweeping piles of rock and cliffs. They sort of looked like puddingstone close up, and their curved shapes reminded me of the boulders in parts of the Arboretum back in Boston (will someone say hi to the arb for me?). There are pockets of forest, but still no leaves. We hiked through a valley that also had birch trees, and here there was a thin carpet of last year's leaves, a few pine needles, and moss. The crisp and *clean* air smelled like the White mountains in November- one of my all-time favorite scents. It was exactly the kind of invigorating hike we needed. When we returned to the ger, two young girls from the host family appeared with lunch. My brother had warned us about the quality of food in the ger camps, so we were prepared for the clear noodles with ketchup and three or four small pieces of beef. The c0le-slaw was decent. It turns out that all the meals would be a variation on this theme- sometimes with potatoes, sometimes as soup, sometimes with rice. It made us appreciate how hard life must be out here on the steps. They always brought us weak but hot tea, which does the trick. I think it must have been about 30 degrees F yesterday, and the wind was so ferocious I'm sure it brought the feel of temperature down into the 20s. Despite the weather, we decided to stay another night.
We got to do two horseback rides- and those were pretty spectacular. The first was through the valley, which meant we could trot (very bumpy and hard on the quads) and sometimes canter a little bit. They took us to the local supermarket- which was about 40 minutes away by horseback, and really was just a room in someone's house. I bought water and two snickers bars--the traveler's mana. Yesterday they took us way up into the hills- up steep mountain slopes and down into river valleys (but no water this time of year). The return was just mercilessly cold- it was like riding through a wind-tunnel. I thought about all the different kinds of rugs and blankets I'd seen in the market in the city and thought about how easy it would have been to bring some along. But clearly we survived. And in sum total, it was pretty derned fun. I only thought about my family in the carribean once or twice. Once or twice an hour, that is. :)
All the wind meant we had a totally clear night. We had moved to a different ger, a warmer one, and had one more person in there with us to keep it warm (a fellow American- a mountain man from colorado). I still got up in the middle of the night to add some wood to the stove, and went outside to see the stars. I gotta admit that when I opened the door, I was startled at first by how close the stars and the mountains seemed. There were so many stars I barely recognized the night sky. It makes me sad to think of all the clear nights we have in Boston and still we can't see stars like this. Back in my bed, from about 2am to 3am I couldn't sleep- I just kept trying to think of a way that we could live somewhere that we could see stars like that every night.
This morning the wind finally stopped, and it was clear, sunny, and just gorgeous. As I told my teammates back in Boston, before our van came to pick us up, I pulled out my disc (a disc is a"frisbee", for the few of you who are not familiar with ultimate frisbee out there) and made Eric and our ger-mate throw with me. We also got a young Mongolian girl to join us- and clearly she had seen a disc before because she had a mighty backhand and could catch one-handed. I was tempted to leave my disc with her, but that would mean we wouldnt have one fore the BC leg of our trip and that's not cool.
I wish we could have spent more time out there. When the wind subsided, it was so peaceful and quiet- we saw two ravens fly by and we could hear their wings beating the air. We watched some kind of small raptor hovering above the cliffs- posing in the wind so it looked like he was just floating in one place without using his wings. The horses we had ridden the day before were hanging out in a patch of woods up in the steep slopes, and they watched us watching the birds. So peaceful.
We are back in the city now, and Eric starts teaching his 3 day course tomorrow. Maybe we'll run out to the countryside one more time on Thursday before we return to China.
xoxo
betsy
We had thought we'd be sharing the adventure with these two other couples and a woman from Korea, but we were quickly stowed away in our own private ger (that's mongolian for "yurt") , with two beds each and a small stove in the middle. Shortly after we arrived, we headed out for a hike in the hills. There were HUGE rock formations, big sweeping piles of rock and cliffs. They sort of looked like puddingstone close up, and their curved shapes reminded me of the boulders in parts of the Arboretum back in Boston (will someone say hi to the arb for me?). There are pockets of forest, but still no leaves. We hiked through a valley that also had birch trees, and here there was a thin carpet of last year's leaves, a few pine needles, and moss. The crisp and *clean* air smelled like the White mountains in November- one of my all-time favorite scents. It was exactly the kind of invigorating hike we needed. When we returned to the ger, two young girls from the host family appeared with lunch. My brother had warned us about the quality of food in the ger camps, so we were prepared for the clear noodles with ketchup and three or four small pieces of beef. The c0le-slaw was decent. It turns out that all the meals would be a variation on this theme- sometimes with potatoes, sometimes as soup, sometimes with rice. It made us appreciate how hard life must be out here on the steps. They always brought us weak but hot tea, which does the trick. I think it must have been about 30 degrees F yesterday, and the wind was so ferocious I'm sure it brought the feel of temperature down into the 20s. Despite the weather, we decided to stay another night.
We got to do two horseback rides- and those were pretty spectacular. The first was through the valley, which meant we could trot (very bumpy and hard on the quads) and sometimes canter a little bit. They took us to the local supermarket- which was about 40 minutes away by horseback, and really was just a room in someone's house. I bought water and two snickers bars--the traveler's mana. Yesterday they took us way up into the hills- up steep mountain slopes and down into river valleys (but no water this time of year). The return was just mercilessly cold- it was like riding through a wind-tunnel. I thought about all the different kinds of rugs and blankets I'd seen in the market in the city and thought about how easy it would have been to bring some along. But clearly we survived. And in sum total, it was pretty derned fun. I only thought about my family in the carribean once or twice. Once or twice an hour, that is. :)
All the wind meant we had a totally clear night. We had moved to a different ger, a warmer one, and had one more person in there with us to keep it warm (a fellow American- a mountain man from colorado). I still got up in the middle of the night to add some wood to the stove, and went outside to see the stars. I gotta admit that when I opened the door, I was startled at first by how close the stars and the mountains seemed. There were so many stars I barely recognized the night sky. It makes me sad to think of all the clear nights we have in Boston and still we can't see stars like this. Back in my bed, from about 2am to 3am I couldn't sleep- I just kept trying to think of a way that we could live somewhere that we could see stars like that every night.
This morning the wind finally stopped, and it was clear, sunny, and just gorgeous. As I told my teammates back in Boston, before our van came to pick us up, I pulled out my disc (a disc is a"frisbee", for the few of you who are not familiar with ultimate frisbee out there) and made Eric and our ger-mate throw with me. We also got a young Mongolian girl to join us- and clearly she had seen a disc before because she had a mighty backhand and could catch one-handed. I was tempted to leave my disc with her, but that would mean we wouldnt have one fore the BC leg of our trip and that's not cool.
I wish we could have spent more time out there. When the wind subsided, it was so peaceful and quiet- we saw two ravens fly by and we could hear their wings beating the air. We watched some kind of small raptor hovering above the cliffs- posing in the wind so it looked like he was just floating in one place without using his wings. The horses we had ridden the day before were hanging out in a patch of woods up in the steep slopes, and they watched us watching the birds. So peaceful.
We are back in the city now, and Eric starts teaching his 3 day course tomorrow. Maybe we'll run out to the countryside one more time on Thursday before we return to China.
xoxo
betsy
Thursday, April 20, 2006
trains, deserts, and day 1 in mongolia
Sain be nuu. So this is how you say hello in our newest town, Ulaanbaatar! We arrived here yesterday afternoon, after a 30 hour train ride from Beijing, through the Gobi desert. We boarded at 7am on Tuesday in Beijing, and arrived at 1pm on Wednesday in Ulaanbaatar. I um, don’t recommend it. Thanks to the wisdom of our friend Wan Wei in Beijing, when we return to Beijing it will be by plane. Partly the ride was hard because for the first 20 hours or so, we were riding through a dust storm. Dust got in through the cracks in the window and coating everything, including our lungs. Walking down the train’s corridors, you could see the fog made by all the dust particles. It did make for a beautiful orange sunset, however.
After sunset, the board crossing began. It took six hours. That means starting at 8:30, one customs officer after another came onboard the train and to each little cabin to check passports and board crossing documents. China had 3 forms, and so three different people came. They came about 30 to 45 minutes apart, so just when we had fallen soundly asleep, our door would be flung open and the light turned on and a new demand made. “Passport!” “Baggage form!” “Health form!”. Around midnight, we were through China’s customs. But then there was about an hour of hard core train lurches. I was having some kind of traveler’s stomach virus (love those), so I didn’t leave my bed, but Eric got up to see what was going on. Looking out the window, he saw another train beside us. Something was funny though, and suddenly he realized that he recognized the people in that other train! He walked to the end of our car, and realized that we had been disconnected from the rest of the train and jacked up in to the air. When he return to our cabin, our cabin-mate, a Chinese civil engineer (aged 28), told us that they were changing the wheels on the train. You see, in China, the wheels on the train are 1.2 meters apart. In Mongolia, they are 1 meter apart. So at the boarder, all the train cars have to have their wheel sets changed. For this reason and customs, it takes about 6 hours to cross the boarder. After the wheels were changed, we lurched to Mongolian customs. More doors opening, “passport!” “baggage form!!” you get the picture. Around 2:30 it finally quieted down, I think. I was kind of delirious and not getting a whole lot of oxygen since I was breathing through my bandana.
Aren’t you all so jealous? Do you know what I was thinking about at this time? I was thinking about how my entire family: mom, dad, Amy, Andi, Dani, and little baby Eva, were all probably sipping on pineapple fruit shakes and nibbling on a breakfast pastry on the side of a pool in the Dominican Republic. Tell me truthfully- which situation would you prefer?
In the morning things were much better. The storm was over, and we were under the blue skies of Mongolia. We watched out the window as we passed through the dessert and on to the steps. In the distance we could see some kind of animal, and as we squinted to try to figure it out … I think they might be camels… suddenly there was one right beside the train, with a Mongolian rider on top, wearing the traditional bright colors and wool wraps. We also saw some kind of almost white deer, many horses, and more camels. A totally wild countryside. When we went to the dining car for breakfast, we found that it had been changed as well in the middle of the night- instead of the Chinese canteen, we found a Mongolian dining car with shields, bows and arrows and swords decorating the walls. Quite a change. I was feeling better then too, so everything was a little brighter.
When we arrived at the train station, it was a typical Asian-transportation scene. People everywhere, bags everywhere, people asking us to take their taxi or go to their hotel or what have you. We got scooped up by our hostel and whisked away to a little oasis of sorts in the middle of the city. Its great- it feels kind of like a small international college dorm. There are probably 25 of us in the hostel, all young backpacker types. Last night we all watched “walk the line”, piled on couches in the main room. It was a nice break- amazing how when you’re watching a movie you can forget where you are. I had no idea that June Carter’s parents played such a key role in Johnny Cash’s rehab. Who knew.
Anyway, today we met Oyun, our host in Mongolia, at about 10am. She is an OBGYN doc, and got her masters’ in public health at Boston University. Very cool woman. She introduced us to some people who are very high up in the health ministry, and the executive director of a new association of public health professionals who are working to guide the creation of Mongolia’s public health system. There is SO much going on here- and yet it is just the beginning. They are still recovering from the soviet approach to health care, which is basically be quiet until you need surgery or some kind of major medical care. Almost no primary health care. But many changes are a-foot, and all kinds of international investors have showed up to stake their claims. Unfortuntely, the tobacco industry has been here long before public health investors, so that battle will be somewhat uneven. But the people we met are very optimistic and well-trained. Oyun, our host, was able to study at BU because she got a grant from George Soros. For those of you who don’t know the Soros foundation, it is the bomb-diggety. They fund all the good stuff. So Oyun is quite a rock star. More on that next week, I am sure.
Tomorrow we leave for a 3 day trip into the country side. It could be quite a cold experience- they say a rain or snow storm is coming. I tried to buy some warm clothes today, but being a tourist, and this being a city (and so not as cold), it was quite difficult. They have a lot of cashmere here, and its about 1/3 the price of cashmere in the US. But I haven’t been able to find the invincible down coats or even thick wool coats I was hoping for. I settled for a gorgeous moss-green cashmere scarf for $40. It will do. If the guides say I need something warmer, we’ll hit up the Mongolian market, which is pretty far from here, but where you can get pretty good rip-offs of North Face and the like.
So that’s the latest. I hope everyone is doing well!
Xoxo
Betsy and Eric
After sunset, the board crossing began. It took six hours. That means starting at 8:30, one customs officer after another came onboard the train and to each little cabin to check passports and board crossing documents. China had 3 forms, and so three different people came. They came about 30 to 45 minutes apart, so just when we had fallen soundly asleep, our door would be flung open and the light turned on and a new demand made. “Passport!” “Baggage form!” “Health form!”. Around midnight, we were through China’s customs. But then there was about an hour of hard core train lurches. I was having some kind of traveler’s stomach virus (love those), so I didn’t leave my bed, but Eric got up to see what was going on. Looking out the window, he saw another train beside us. Something was funny though, and suddenly he realized that he recognized the people in that other train! He walked to the end of our car, and realized that we had been disconnected from the rest of the train and jacked up in to the air. When he return to our cabin, our cabin-mate, a Chinese civil engineer (aged 28), told us that they were changing the wheels on the train. You see, in China, the wheels on the train are 1.2 meters apart. In Mongolia, they are 1 meter apart. So at the boarder, all the train cars have to have their wheel sets changed. For this reason and customs, it takes about 6 hours to cross the boarder. After the wheels were changed, we lurched to Mongolian customs. More doors opening, “passport!” “baggage form!!” you get the picture. Around 2:30 it finally quieted down, I think. I was kind of delirious and not getting a whole lot of oxygen since I was breathing through my bandana.
Aren’t you all so jealous? Do you know what I was thinking about at this time? I was thinking about how my entire family: mom, dad, Amy, Andi, Dani, and little baby Eva, were all probably sipping on pineapple fruit shakes and nibbling on a breakfast pastry on the side of a pool in the Dominican Republic. Tell me truthfully- which situation would you prefer?
In the morning things were much better. The storm was over, and we were under the blue skies of Mongolia. We watched out the window as we passed through the dessert and on to the steps. In the distance we could see some kind of animal, and as we squinted to try to figure it out … I think they might be camels… suddenly there was one right beside the train, with a Mongolian rider on top, wearing the traditional bright colors and wool wraps. We also saw some kind of almost white deer, many horses, and more camels. A totally wild countryside. When we went to the dining car for breakfast, we found that it had been changed as well in the middle of the night- instead of the Chinese canteen, we found a Mongolian dining car with shields, bows and arrows and swords decorating the walls. Quite a change. I was feeling better then too, so everything was a little brighter.
When we arrived at the train station, it was a typical Asian-transportation scene. People everywhere, bags everywhere, people asking us to take their taxi or go to their hotel or what have you. We got scooped up by our hostel and whisked away to a little oasis of sorts in the middle of the city. Its great- it feels kind of like a small international college dorm. There are probably 25 of us in the hostel, all young backpacker types. Last night we all watched “walk the line”, piled on couches in the main room. It was a nice break- amazing how when you’re watching a movie you can forget where you are. I had no idea that June Carter’s parents played such a key role in Johnny Cash’s rehab. Who knew.
Anyway, today we met Oyun, our host in Mongolia, at about 10am. She is an OBGYN doc, and got her masters’ in public health at Boston University. Very cool woman. She introduced us to some people who are very high up in the health ministry, and the executive director of a new association of public health professionals who are working to guide the creation of Mongolia’s public health system. There is SO much going on here- and yet it is just the beginning. They are still recovering from the soviet approach to health care, which is basically be quiet until you need surgery or some kind of major medical care. Almost no primary health care. But many changes are a-foot, and all kinds of international investors have showed up to stake their claims. Unfortuntely, the tobacco industry has been here long before public health investors, so that battle will be somewhat uneven. But the people we met are very optimistic and well-trained. Oyun, our host, was able to study at BU because she got a grant from George Soros. For those of you who don’t know the Soros foundation, it is the bomb-diggety. They fund all the good stuff. So Oyun is quite a rock star. More on that next week, I am sure.
Tomorrow we leave for a 3 day trip into the country side. It could be quite a cold experience- they say a rain or snow storm is coming. I tried to buy some warm clothes today, but being a tourist, and this being a city (and so not as cold), it was quite difficult. They have a lot of cashmere here, and its about 1/3 the price of cashmere in the US. But I haven’t been able to find the invincible down coats or even thick wool coats I was hoping for. I settled for a gorgeous moss-green cashmere scarf for $40. It will do. If the guides say I need something warmer, we’ll hit up the Mongolian market, which is pretty far from here, but where you can get pretty good rip-offs of North Face and the like.
So that’s the latest. I hope everyone is doing well!
Xoxo
Betsy and Eric
Saturday, April 15, 2006
musing on food and history in Xi'an
Here we are in Xi'An, a city of 6 million people, and somehow the air is much cleaner and the streets are much cleaner than Lhasa. Xi'an is the ancient capital of China- there were 13 emperors who made it their home.
And we are getting the inside scoop, because this is where Fangshuo and his family live. A lot of you probably remember meeting Fangshuo- he was the second boy that my family hosted for a high school semester (the first was Wan Wei, who stayed with us about 7 years ago). He is still in school, and studying his little buns off for the college entrance exams, upon which his whole life is staked (it appears). So we havent' gotten to see him much, but his family has opened their arms to us and acted as our personal guides for the city. Yesterday they arranged the daughter of a friend to take us around the city and translate for us- she is in her final year of studying English in college. Fangshuo's dad, Mr. Xi, drove the 3 of us around the city, paid for all of the entrance fees for the museums and sites, and bought us snacks along the way. Then we met him and his wife for dinner at a three story restaurant that specializes in dumplings. Wait until you see the pictures. Possibly the best meal in China we've had, although the peking duck we had in beijing is right up there. And we got to have that (the duck and all its trappings) the night before too. Oh so wondeful to have such wonderful food (ask us about the noodle houses some day- but not so close to a meal). They brought out the dumplings fresh and steaming from the pot- and you eat them right away. They just serve about 10 at a time, and you scarf them up. Don't dare dip them in the sauce- it masks the flavor. We had walnut ones, seafood, pork and corn, sweet, spicey, smooth, orange ones, clear ones, green ones, ones shaped like lotus flour pods... amazing. and the finale was a huge beautiful soup or "hot" pot with fire underneath- it was a dumpling soup. They serve the soup, and then you count how many dumplings you get in your bowl. Each number has a different significance- Eric got 4, which means his pockets will be lined with money all four season of the year. I got one, which means this year will bring much success to my career. Good news all around.
We had fun trying to communicate with Fangshuo's parents- practicing the tiny bit of Chinese we are picking up, and then doing a lot of acting and sharing photos via the digital camera. We'll post some of those pictures later on. And it was amazing to have our own personal guide- there are so many things we have been wondering about but couldn't ask. With Celia (our guide- that is her "english" name), we could ask almost anything. So we did. The poor thing was exhausted by the end of the day- and she had to translate all through dinner too! This morning they are picking us up at 10:30 to take us around for today as well, then we will have Chinese hotpot for dinner, just before our 7pm train leaves for Beijing. I don't think I've *ever* been this wined-and-dined. They have made it clear via Celia that they were so grateful that we took Fangshuo into our family, so they are happy to have the opportunity to return the favor. We couldn't be happier.
Did I mention that Mrs. Xi gave us a box of fresh strawberries that we ate for breakfast yesterday morning? Deluxe, man. I'm tellin' ya.
So the next section is for those of you who like museums and cultural history and stuff. Like you, Poppa of mine. We went to the Shaanxi museum yesterday morning, which my father has been to twice, and he has dubbed it one of his favorite museums in the whole world. This comes from a man who has spent qutie a bit of QT in the world's museums (we let him go at his own speed when we go as a family). We were pretty excited about it- until we realized that half of it was closed!! So disappointing!! but the 3 galleries we did see were just unbelievable. These people have lived here quite a bit longer than us north american types, as we all know, but somehow SEEING these incredibly beautiful brass pots from 700 BC just blows my mind. The ancient Chinese had this beautiful alphabet, at least by 1046 BC. "BEE" "SEE", people. When did we come up with our alphabet? As you go through the museum, the artifacts slowly take on more detail and creativity, until you get to the Tang dynasty, which was one of the wealthiest dynesties in China, and you just have these INTRICATE designs and colors and flourishes that you could really get lost in. I suppose it makes sense... these artists are building on knowledge and discoveries made by hundreds of generations of people before them. It makes us appreciate the importance of shared wisdom- I can't really describe how profoundly I felt this as we strolled through the museum.
one thing that was pretty cool, though, is that the paintings from the neolithic era, almost 6000 years ago, are similar in many ways to art I've seen from Incas or even African art. It makes one wonder about the origins of art- how it comes from this little biological unit, a human being, with its set of perceptive abilities, which take in the shapes and colors of the surrounding world, stir it into the brain a little, and then come out with their expression of what they have seen. I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that some ancient Chinese person, who shares the same biology as some ancient Incan person, should come up with some similar paintings.
There was also a special exhibit of brush paintings by local artists. This, of course, made me think of my mother, who has become quite a brush paint artist herself (we used some of her art in our wedding). Mom, I hope this exhibit is still here when you come! I can't believe the things they painted- so full of life and color, so effortless and simple but deeply beautiful. I made a list of what they painted: camels, white peacocks, a gray evil looking vulture, bright peonies (the flower of China, which are just busting out all over the province right now), mountains, ancient, huge forests, snwo on red cherry blossoms, tigers, limestone forests, bamboo forests in the snow, rivers and clouds, and even the orange flowers that my mom has started painting. I was totally absorbed.
Yesterday afternoon we went to a place called the Forest of Stones Museum. This place was unreal. About 50 years ago, they discovered this HUGE stone burried in the ground (while didgina well or tourhg for an electrical line right in the middle of the city), about 8 feet high, that was inscribed, in chinese caligraphy, with the story of one man's life. Over the course of the next few years, they discovered hundreds of these stones, dating back to the Qin dynasty, which is 221 BC, and as recently as the 1930s. These stones, or "steles", were written when an emperor or famous official died. Often before they died, they wrote what they wanted to have inscribed on their stones. They would write their whole life story, and sometimes they would ponder about their own culture, writing the events and cultural practices of their day. It has been an incredible resource for the Chinese to learn about their own history. Its increible- there are poems by famous Chinese poets, and my favorite was a stone inscribed by Jin Ying. For those of you who don't know about her, she was a revolutionary around the turn of the century- about 10-20 years older than Chang Kai Sheck, and Mao Zedong, and the contemporary of Sun Yatsen and Khang Youwei (the rivaling fathers of the 20th century Chinese revolutions). She was AWESOME. I read about her in this history book we had for a little while on the trip (before we left it on a bus). She was an amazing poet, and an incredible advocate for women's right to vote, and worked to change major cultural traditions lke the binding of women's feet. Incidentally, our guide, Celia, said her grandmother bound her feet until she was middle aged- around 1950 I think that practice was banned. Anyway, Ying was an incredible influence on Chinese women and those revolutionary men, and obviously seen as quite a threat to the emporer. She was also quite a fighter, but in the end, at age 29, the emperor's men out-fought her and she was beheaded. (!!!) But she left behind quite a written legacy, including one of those stone tiles. UNbelievable stuff.
So that's a little bit of what we've been up to in Xi'an. Off to Beijing tonight, to the mongolian embassy tomorrow to get Eric's visa, and then tuesday morning at 7:20am we board the train for Ulanbatar, through the Gobi Dessert!
I hope everyone is feeling peaceful and happy.
xo
betsy and eric
And we are getting the inside scoop, because this is where Fangshuo and his family live. A lot of you probably remember meeting Fangshuo- he was the second boy that my family hosted for a high school semester (the first was Wan Wei, who stayed with us about 7 years ago). He is still in school, and studying his little buns off for the college entrance exams, upon which his whole life is staked (it appears). So we havent' gotten to see him much, but his family has opened their arms to us and acted as our personal guides for the city. Yesterday they arranged the daughter of a friend to take us around the city and translate for us- she is in her final year of studying English in college. Fangshuo's dad, Mr. Xi, drove the 3 of us around the city, paid for all of the entrance fees for the museums and sites, and bought us snacks along the way. Then we met him and his wife for dinner at a three story restaurant that specializes in dumplings. Wait until you see the pictures. Possibly the best meal in China we've had, although the peking duck we had in beijing is right up there. And we got to have that (the duck and all its trappings) the night before too. Oh so wondeful to have such wonderful food (ask us about the noodle houses some day- but not so close to a meal). They brought out the dumplings fresh and steaming from the pot- and you eat them right away. They just serve about 10 at a time, and you scarf them up. Don't dare dip them in the sauce- it masks the flavor. We had walnut ones, seafood, pork and corn, sweet, spicey, smooth, orange ones, clear ones, green ones, ones shaped like lotus flour pods... amazing. and the finale was a huge beautiful soup or "hot" pot with fire underneath- it was a dumpling soup. They serve the soup, and then you count how many dumplings you get in your bowl. Each number has a different significance- Eric got 4, which means his pockets will be lined with money all four season of the year. I got one, which means this year will bring much success to my career. Good news all around.
We had fun trying to communicate with Fangshuo's parents- practicing the tiny bit of Chinese we are picking up, and then doing a lot of acting and sharing photos via the digital camera. We'll post some of those pictures later on. And it was amazing to have our own personal guide- there are so many things we have been wondering about but couldn't ask. With Celia (our guide- that is her "english" name), we could ask almost anything. So we did. The poor thing was exhausted by the end of the day- and she had to translate all through dinner too! This morning they are picking us up at 10:30 to take us around for today as well, then we will have Chinese hotpot for dinner, just before our 7pm train leaves for Beijing. I don't think I've *ever* been this wined-and-dined. They have made it clear via Celia that they were so grateful that we took Fangshuo into our family, so they are happy to have the opportunity to return the favor. We couldn't be happier.
Did I mention that Mrs. Xi gave us a box of fresh strawberries that we ate for breakfast yesterday morning? Deluxe, man. I'm tellin' ya.
So the next section is for those of you who like museums and cultural history and stuff. Like you, Poppa of mine. We went to the Shaanxi museum yesterday morning, which my father has been to twice, and he has dubbed it one of his favorite museums in the whole world. This comes from a man who has spent qutie a bit of QT in the world's museums (we let him go at his own speed when we go as a family). We were pretty excited about it- until we realized that half of it was closed!! So disappointing!! but the 3 galleries we did see were just unbelievable. These people have lived here quite a bit longer than us north american types, as we all know, but somehow SEEING these incredibly beautiful brass pots from 700 BC just blows my mind. The ancient Chinese had this beautiful alphabet, at least by 1046 BC. "BEE" "SEE", people. When did we come up with our alphabet? As you go through the museum, the artifacts slowly take on more detail and creativity, until you get to the Tang dynasty, which was one of the wealthiest dynesties in China, and you just have these INTRICATE designs and colors and flourishes that you could really get lost in. I suppose it makes sense... these artists are building on knowledge and discoveries made by hundreds of generations of people before them. It makes us appreciate the importance of shared wisdom- I can't really describe how profoundly I felt this as we strolled through the museum.
one thing that was pretty cool, though, is that the paintings from the neolithic era, almost 6000 years ago, are similar in many ways to art I've seen from Incas or even African art. It makes one wonder about the origins of art- how it comes from this little biological unit, a human being, with its set of perceptive abilities, which take in the shapes and colors of the surrounding world, stir it into the brain a little, and then come out with their expression of what they have seen. I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that some ancient Chinese person, who shares the same biology as some ancient Incan person, should come up with some similar paintings.
There was also a special exhibit of brush paintings by local artists. This, of course, made me think of my mother, who has become quite a brush paint artist herself (we used some of her art in our wedding). Mom, I hope this exhibit is still here when you come! I can't believe the things they painted- so full of life and color, so effortless and simple but deeply beautiful. I made a list of what they painted: camels, white peacocks, a gray evil looking vulture, bright peonies (the flower of China, which are just busting out all over the province right now), mountains, ancient, huge forests, snwo on red cherry blossoms, tigers, limestone forests, bamboo forests in the snow, rivers and clouds, and even the orange flowers that my mom has started painting. I was totally absorbed.
Yesterday afternoon we went to a place called the Forest of Stones Museum. This place was unreal. About 50 years ago, they discovered this HUGE stone burried in the ground (while didgina well or tourhg for an electrical line right in the middle of the city), about 8 feet high, that was inscribed, in chinese caligraphy, with the story of one man's life. Over the course of the next few years, they discovered hundreds of these stones, dating back to the Qin dynasty, which is 221 BC, and as recently as the 1930s. These stones, or "steles", were written when an emperor or famous official died. Often before they died, they wrote what they wanted to have inscribed on their stones. They would write their whole life story, and sometimes they would ponder about their own culture, writing the events and cultural practices of their day. It has been an incredible resource for the Chinese to learn about their own history. Its increible- there are poems by famous Chinese poets, and my favorite was a stone inscribed by Jin Ying. For those of you who don't know about her, she was a revolutionary around the turn of the century- about 10-20 years older than Chang Kai Sheck, and Mao Zedong, and the contemporary of Sun Yatsen and Khang Youwei (the rivaling fathers of the 20th century Chinese revolutions). She was AWESOME. I read about her in this history book we had for a little while on the trip (before we left it on a bus). She was an amazing poet, and an incredible advocate for women's right to vote, and worked to change major cultural traditions lke the binding of women's feet. Incidentally, our guide, Celia, said her grandmother bound her feet until she was middle aged- around 1950 I think that practice was banned. Anyway, Ying was an incredible influence on Chinese women and those revolutionary men, and obviously seen as quite a threat to the emporer. She was also quite a fighter, but in the end, at age 29, the emperor's men out-fought her and she was beheaded. (!!!) But she left behind quite a written legacy, including one of those stone tiles. UNbelievable stuff.
So that's a little bit of what we've been up to in Xi'an. Off to Beijing tonight, to the mongolian embassy tomorrow to get Eric's visa, and then tuesday morning at 7:20am we board the train for Ulanbatar, through the Gobi Dessert!
I hope everyone is feeling peaceful and happy.
xo
betsy and eric
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
pictures and words from tibet
Today is our last day in Lhasa- tomorrow morning we fly to Xi'An. This leg of the trip has been the most difficult, cold, and beautiful. Some of our adventures we'll just have to wait to tell you in person- and it will be worth the wait.
We went to Nam Tso Lake the day before yesterday, which is about 5 hours away and 600 meters higher. For those of you who remember our adventures with altitude in Peru, you won't be surprised to hear that we were *very* careful in preparing for this trip. You're supposed to ascend no more than 1000-1500 feet per day (that's what, 300-400 meters?). So this was a big jump. But we were pretty acclimated to Lhasa, so they say just going up one night is generally okay. Obviously we made it back ok (otherwise there would be no blog update).
Nam Tso Lake was the most beautiful place we have been to in China so far. We'll post some photos. It was so quiet and deeply serene- like these mountains are actually gods, quietly meditating, sending us their words of peace and happiness and patience. I felt a little bit like I was dreaming- partially because I probably wasn't getting enough air to my brain and partly because it was so beautiful. There were two or three "koras", which are circular walks that Tibetans do as a way of praying. Around most monastaries and temples there are beautiful koras, and at Nam Tso lake there are two small hills that are holy hills, so there are two koras around them. And you can walk to the top of these hills and see some incredible views. On the evening of the first day there, Eric and I walked to the top. We had to stop every 15 steps or so to rest for about 5 minutes before continuing on, in order to prevent altitude sickness! It took us forever to get up- and I think I know what it must feel like to walk on Everest now- each step was a major effort and we had to breath deeply. Somehow that made the experience more profound. It was the kind of natural silence and beauty we have been craving since we left Laos.
We shared a car up there with a couple our age from Belgium. There were a handful of local people there- literally 8 or so, 4 of whom seemed to run the place where we stayed. There were about 10 tents set up (large ones, sleeping about 5 people on small beds), and a cook tent and dining tent, all with the tibetan designs. The only other people there were four other white tourists- two from norway and two from Canada. And get this. Eric knew one of the Canadians- friends of friends kind of thing (I think all you Canadians are all friends anyway, right?). Those four turned out to be really fun, so we had dinner with them up there and then again last night, along with the Belgians, and probably again tonight! Its fun to have a little travel crew occasionally. But really- what a coincidence.
Sadly one of the Belgians had pretty bad altitude sickness, and spent most of the night throwing up (we did not envy him). So pretty much first thing in the morning, we hopped in the car to drive to lower elevation. He was much better when we got down. We remembered well our brush with altitude sickness in Peru, so we were pretty sympathetic. It was part of the deal when we signed up together- that if anyone got sick, we would go down early. And we both felt lucky that it wasn't one of us!
So these photos should mostly be self explanatory- you see Eric in front of the Potala Palace, where the Dalai Lamas lived for centuries before the current Dalai Lama fled to India. You also see a bunch of photos of Nam Tso lake, including lots of prayer flags. There is also a picture of the young monks participating in what is called "debate"- in the afternoon they test each other one what they learned that morning. It is a pretty bustling scene- with lots of talking and they clap their hands in one single, loud clap to indicate the next question. There is also a shot of Eric and the lama we had tea with, which he wrote about earlier.
So thats the news for now, folks. Only 19 more days in Asia!
Keep your news coming. Since we left there have been babies born, marriages proposed (and accepted), teams made, weddings planned, trips completed... all by you people over on the other side of the ocean. We hope everyone is happy and healthy.
Much love,
Betsy and Eric
ps- sorry about the font- I composed it elsewhere and it refuses to not be underlined. sorry.
We went to Nam Tso Lake the day before yesterday, which is about 5 hours away and 600 meters higher. For those of you who remember our adventures with altitude in Peru, you won't be surprised to hear that we were *very* careful in preparing for this trip. You're supposed to ascend no more than 1000-1500 feet per day (that's what, 300-400 meters?). So this was a big jump. But we were pretty acclimated to Lhasa, so they say just going up one night is generally okay. Obviously we made it back ok (otherwise there would be no blog update).
Nam Tso Lake was the most beautiful place we have been to in China so far. We'll post some photos. It was so quiet and deeply serene- like these mountains are actually gods, quietly meditating, sending us their words of peace and happiness and patience. I felt a little bit like I was dreaming- partially because I probably wasn't getting enough air to my brain and partly because it was so beautiful. There were two or three "koras", which are circular walks that Tibetans do as a way of praying. Around most monastaries and temples there are beautiful koras, and at Nam Tso lake there are two small hills that are holy hills, so there are two koras around them. And you can walk to the top of these hills and see some incredible views. On the evening of the first day there, Eric and I walked to the top. We had to stop every 15 steps or so to rest for about 5 minutes before continuing on, in order to prevent altitude sickness! It took us forever to get up- and I think I know what it must feel like to walk on Everest now- each step was a major effort and we had to breath deeply. Somehow that made the experience more profound. It was the kind of natural silence and beauty we have been craving since we left Laos.
We shared a car up there with a couple our age from Belgium. There were a handful of local people there- literally 8 or so, 4 of whom seemed to run the place where we stayed. There were about 10 tents set up (large ones, sleeping about 5 people on small beds), and a cook tent and dining tent, all with the tibetan designs. The only other people there were four other white tourists- two from norway and two from Canada. And get this. Eric knew one of the Canadians- friends of friends kind of thing (I think all you Canadians are all friends anyway, right?). Those four turned out to be really fun, so we had dinner with them up there and then again last night, along with the Belgians, and probably again tonight! Its fun to have a little travel crew occasionally. But really- what a coincidence.
Sadly one of the Belgians had pretty bad altitude sickness, and spent most of the night throwing up (we did not envy him). So pretty much first thing in the morning, we hopped in the car to drive to lower elevation. He was much better when we got down. We remembered well our brush with altitude sickness in Peru, so we were pretty sympathetic. It was part of the deal when we signed up together- that if anyone got sick, we would go down early. And we both felt lucky that it wasn't one of us!
So these photos should mostly be self explanatory- you see Eric in front of the Potala Palace, where the Dalai Lamas lived for centuries before the current Dalai Lama fled to India. You also see a bunch of photos of Nam Tso lake, including lots of prayer flags. There is also a picture of the young monks participating in what is called "debate"- in the afternoon they test each other one what they learned that morning. It is a pretty bustling scene- with lots of talking and they clap their hands in one single, loud clap to indicate the next question. There is also a shot of Eric and the lama we had tea with, which he wrote about earlier.
So thats the news for now, folks. Only 19 more days in Asia!
Keep your news coming. Since we left there have been babies born, marriages proposed (and accepted), teams made, weddings planned, trips completed... all by you people over on the other side of the ocean. We hope everyone is happy and healthy.
Much love,
Betsy and Eric
ps- sorry about the font- I composed it elsewhere and it refuses to not be underlined. sorry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)