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.
Friday, April 28, 2006
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.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
flow and chaos
So Lhasa is the last city we're exploring on our own. I'm looking forward to Xi'An and seeing our friend Fangshuo, and getting his insider knowledge on how to get around. Then in Mongolia we'll have our host, Oyun, to help us get squared away. I'm ready for this kind of help! Yesterday we kind of lost it in the morning- we were trying to do simple things like buy airplane tickets and fruit and then lunch, and it was *so* difficult. We manged to get everything we needed, but it took us three hours! To do the same errands in Boston would've taken 30 minutes max. But this is part of the experience. And when Eric's bike started falling apart (see previous blog), we were surrounded by people who wanted to help. so that was the good side.
Its amazing how many *people* there are here. Even just getting onto the plane in Zhongdian to fly to Lhasa, there were about 6 people standing at the gate, and only one checking tickets. Wonder what the other 5 were doing. But everyone has a job who wants one here. There are no snow plows in Zhongdian, so the other day when it snowed, there were women out in the streets with their little face masks on (most of the cities are so polluted, many people wear masks covering their mouth and nose), and these big brooms to sweep the snow away. I wonder what they do when they get *big* snowstorms. Maybe they don't. But what a different system. There are so many ways to live in this world. Thus the title of this blog- it feels like chaos to us, but to the people that live here there is a flow that makes sense to them. Just like there is a flow in the cities where we come from- like driving in Boston traffic. I used to kind of pride myself on my Boston driving skills, and didn't feel scared at all driving around there. I know some of you agree, and some of you are like NO WAY. But you still get my point.
We're hoping to go to Umtso lake (I think it is also called Nam Tso), but we have to wait until we are a little better acclimated. It is another 3300 feet up from here- getting close to the maximum altitude where people can actually live for any extended period of time. We met a Belgian couple last night who we hope to travel with, but we would like to go a day later than they wanted so that we can have one more day to acclimatize. so we'll see.
This morning I'm having a little time to myself while Eric goes to the Johnkang Temple right here in the middle of Lhasa. I wanted some down time to check email, have a nice warm beverage, and then maybe find somewhere in the sunshine to knit. Its a beautiful clear day here on the roof of the world. It has felt like a very long trip- which is good. I think I will feel ready to come home when the time comes. Its just strange that "home" will not be Boston. That part is hard, and I'm trying not to think about it very much. But truthfully, as I told Andy (my brother), after all the 9 to 27 hour commutes we've been doing, 5 hours in a car--where I control the music, when we stop, where we stop, why we stop, and there are no violent movies blaring in the background-- feels easy.
We are having all kinds of fun conversations about how we want to set up our lives in Montreal. This trip has made us value keeping things simple, and seeing how much joy we can get out of just focusing on a few things and going deeply in to them. I think my daily yoga practice helps with this kind of thinking. Summer of learning french, looking for houses, reading about co-ops, possibly volunteering in the public sector to practice my french and start to network.
Sun is creeping down the wall behind me- I hope it comes down to me soon. it is *quite* cold. I've been wearing every shred of clothing I brought. They keep two hot water thermoses in our room, so at night I fill up our two water bottles and put them in my bed to warm it up. We sleep under two huge quilts, with hats and neck-warmers. And that is just warm enough. We get our systems down in each place we stay- how to wash, how to store our stuff, how to protect our valuables, how to brush our teeth- its different in each guest house we've stayed in.
Well, I'm off to find some sunshine in which to knit. I hope you are all doing well and that spring is well on its way.
xo
betsy
Its amazing how many *people* there are here. Even just getting onto the plane in Zhongdian to fly to Lhasa, there were about 6 people standing at the gate, and only one checking tickets. Wonder what the other 5 were doing. But everyone has a job who wants one here. There are no snow plows in Zhongdian, so the other day when it snowed, there were women out in the streets with their little face masks on (most of the cities are so polluted, many people wear masks covering their mouth and nose), and these big brooms to sweep the snow away. I wonder what they do when they get *big* snowstorms. Maybe they don't. But what a different system. There are so many ways to live in this world. Thus the title of this blog- it feels like chaos to us, but to the people that live here there is a flow that makes sense to them. Just like there is a flow in the cities where we come from- like driving in Boston traffic. I used to kind of pride myself on my Boston driving skills, and didn't feel scared at all driving around there. I know some of you agree, and some of you are like NO WAY. But you still get my point.
We're hoping to go to Umtso lake (I think it is also called Nam Tso), but we have to wait until we are a little better acclimated. It is another 3300 feet up from here- getting close to the maximum altitude where people can actually live for any extended period of time. We met a Belgian couple last night who we hope to travel with, but we would like to go a day later than they wanted so that we can have one more day to acclimatize. so we'll see.
This morning I'm having a little time to myself while Eric goes to the Johnkang Temple right here in the middle of Lhasa. I wanted some down time to check email, have a nice warm beverage, and then maybe find somewhere in the sunshine to knit. Its a beautiful clear day here on the roof of the world. It has felt like a very long trip- which is good. I think I will feel ready to come home when the time comes. Its just strange that "home" will not be Boston. That part is hard, and I'm trying not to think about it very much. But truthfully, as I told Andy (my brother), after all the 9 to 27 hour commutes we've been doing, 5 hours in a car--where I control the music, when we stop, where we stop, why we stop, and there are no violent movies blaring in the background-- feels easy.
We are having all kinds of fun conversations about how we want to set up our lives in Montreal. This trip has made us value keeping things simple, and seeing how much joy we can get out of just focusing on a few things and going deeply in to them. I think my daily yoga practice helps with this kind of thinking. Summer of learning french, looking for houses, reading about co-ops, possibly volunteering in the public sector to practice my french and start to network.
Sun is creeping down the wall behind me- I hope it comes down to me soon. it is *quite* cold. I've been wearing every shred of clothing I brought. They keep two hot water thermoses in our room, so at night I fill up our two water bottles and put them in my bed to warm it up. We sleep under two huge quilts, with hats and neck-warmers. And that is just warm enough. We get our systems down in each place we stay- how to wash, how to store our stuff, how to protect our valuables, how to brush our teeth- its different in each guest house we've stayed in.
Well, I'm off to find some sunshine in which to knit. I hope you are all doing well and that spring is well on its way.
xo
betsy
Day 2 in Tibet
We are in Lhasa, Tibet at the moment - went to the Potala Palace today, and the Sera monastery (one of the 3 most historically important ones in Tibet). At the monastery, we walked by some of the monks' homes, where an elderly monk was sitting on his porch. He and us smiled at each other, and he invited us over to him. We basically bowed, nodded our heads and smiled alot, since Betsy and I speak about 3 Tibetan words, and he didn't speak English. We left, and then wandered around the area some more. On our way back, he called us over again, and invited us up to his home to have tea and some food. It was neat to communicate with him in different ways. He didn't speak a word of English, and we had a 2 page English-Tibetan dictionary. So, after asking his name, telling him ours, and then asking him where he was from, there wasn't much left in our dictionary, other phrases that didn't seem appropriate - e.g. "Where can we rent a bicycle" or "Where is the guesthouse?" He showed us things in his room (e.g. Buddha wall hangings and locations of Tibetan monasteries), and we did charades-style communciation, and gave him some chocolate (not sure if he liked it or not).
We rode bicycles out to the monastery. Bike rentals in China are an experience. So far I am 2 for 2 renting bikes in rough shape (for some reason Betsy has no problems with her bikes). Today, just as we were within a few yeards of the monastery going up a hill (I was standing up on the pedals), my crank slipped, and soon the 2 pedals were in exactly the same spot - right beside each other, making it impossible to pedal. We locked the bikes and walked through the monastery. Afterwards, we got back on the bikes and coasted down the hill to a restaurant with a friendly looking guy working there. I showed him my problem, and he looked at it, picked up a rock, and started hitting a loose pin in. A crowd gathered, started giving advice, and soon a hammer showed up, they drove the loose pin in the whole way. In a few minutes the bike worked fine and we were back on the road.
Have you ever had yak butter tea? if you want to know what it is like, relax, close your eyes, think of picking up a cup, dipping it in ocean water, placing in the microwave to heat it up, and then stirring in some slightly musky butter into it. I, uh, actually, probably will avoid it from now on.
We are in Tibet for another 5 days or so. It is really wonderful here. I wish it could be longer.
By the way, your probably picked up on the April Fool's day clues (e.g. "Happy April 1st) in my Betsy movie-actress/me as a make-up artist blog entry, but just in case you didn't, it was for April fool's day.
Happy trails,
Eric
We rode bicycles out to the monastery. Bike rentals in China are an experience. So far I am 2 for 2 renting bikes in rough shape (for some reason Betsy has no problems with her bikes). Today, just as we were within a few yeards of the monastery going up a hill (I was standing up on the pedals), my crank slipped, and soon the 2 pedals were in exactly the same spot - right beside each other, making it impossible to pedal. We locked the bikes and walked through the monastery. Afterwards, we got back on the bikes and coasted down the hill to a restaurant with a friendly looking guy working there. I showed him my problem, and he looked at it, picked up a rock, and started hitting a loose pin in. A crowd gathered, started giving advice, and soon a hammer showed up, they drove the loose pin in the whole way. In a few minutes the bike worked fine and we were back on the road.
Have you ever had yak butter tea? if you want to know what it is like, relax, close your eyes, think of picking up a cup, dipping it in ocean water, placing in the microwave to heat it up, and then stirring in some slightly musky butter into it. I, uh, actually, probably will avoid it from now on.
We are in Tibet for another 5 days or so. It is really wonderful here. I wish it could be longer.
By the way, your probably picked up on the April Fool's day clues (e.g. "Happy April 1st) in my Betsy movie-actress/me as a make-up artist blog entry, but just in case you didn't, it was for April fool's day.
Happy trails,
Eric
Thursday, April 06, 2006
photos of Yunnan and Tiger Leaping Gorge
A few more photos. Note that the goat herder also appears to be taking a business call. There is a photo of what looks like a balcony off some cliffs- those are the hot springs we went to today. And no, that's not Chenglish behind Eric- its just a window from the wrong side of the Tibet Cafe in Zhongdian, China. Those blue mountains were beside us forthe whole trek in leaping tiger gorge. Now they're eternal backdrop for our memories of this trip!
xo
betsy and eric
we're headed to Tibet!
Oops- I guess that was the punchline!
but yep, we're leaving tomorrow morning at 9:10am. To Lhasa form Zhongdian (where we are now), its simple to travel and get permits, and while we need to say we are part of a group, a group of 2 or even 1 is ok, and more people speak English in Lhasa than in the other parts of China where we've been! So here we go.
You may remember that no less tha n4 days ago we said we'd be offline for 10 days. Plans change. Well, the truth is that after 2 nights in Tiger leaping Gorge, we decended to a small town (10 homes) where we thought we'd be able to find a guide to lead us for an additional 2 or 3 day hike, and discovered that (1) the hike was super wicked steep, and (2) the guy who knows about guide was well, as my dad would put it, "mean spirited" and we didn't want to deal with him. So we split a car with 4 Israelis and 2 british foreign corrospondants to go back to the town where our hike originated. From here we were told we could go to Zhongdian, where we are now.
But I want to tell more about the British foreign corrospondants. I think they might be famous. Of course I cant' remember their last names, but one is the cheif economics editor for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for Reuters (which is mostly a financial news source), and the other is the woman on the ground in China for the London times (at first she said "the times" and we said oh, the New york times? and her husband kinda smirked and said "no. The ORIGINAL times". and us: "oh, London" (doh!). She's been in China for 20 years. So they decided we were ok, and let us share their taxi from Qiaotou to Zhongdian. IT was awesome, because even tho they were on vacation, they are journalists and couldn't help investigating a little local buz/scandal happening at Tiger Leaping Gorge. See, they explained to us, there are two issues. First, it is unclear where the water level will rise to when they build the dam (part of the government's Three Gorges Project to produice hydroelectric power, much to the detriment of millions of people and the natural world). So the locals don't know exactly where to build and where not to build. Many are just building anyway because this area is a new tourist hot spot, even though in 2-3 years their buildings will be up to 200 meters under water. And they don't know where theyl'l go. Even the ones whose homes won't be under water will be effected because the towns where they used to do buisiness will be gone. They currently hike down what took us 6 hours to hike up every day to do business.
So scandal number two is that now you have to pay 50 Y to get in to the gorge, and there is dispute about what happens wit hthat money. So right in front of the ticket office there are groups of men hanging aroudn and smoking and trying to intimidate the people selling the tickets by sheer force of numbers. The funniest thing (not that any of this is very funny, actually), is that Margo, and Australian who owns a guest house across the street, is in hysterics about it because sometimes the guys hang out on her steps and intimdate the tourists instead. She's also worried about the locals getting their fare share of all the tourism, so here heart is in the right place, even though she was really quite a scenario. She did, however, have a VERY cute grey cat who looked a lot like Talkeetna, which was quite therapeutic for both of us.
but back to the britts. They were totally fascinating, and know a TON about china and the current issues it faces, especially in relation to the rest of the world. Its so interesting, and of course we peppered them with questions on the 2.5 hour car ride. They live in Beijing and told us to call when we were back in town. I thinmk they were just being polite, but it is super tempting. Amazing to get their insight into a world we've been confused about for the past few weeks (well, I guess I've been confused about China for much longer than that).
So now we are in Zhongdian. Supposedly Zhongdian is Shangri-La. Cool, eh? Except neither of us really knows what that means. Does anyone else? Like heaven or something? We might google it. So, its pretty nice, although its still a lot like other chinese cities, and fewer english speakers so we're having a little trouble getting around. Luckily the owner of our guest house, Kevin, is super helpful, young, and speaks english. We're way up high- about 3200 meters, and we just feel so close to the sky. It is blue blue blue. And they left some of the trees up (or logged them so long ago they have recovered somewhat), so the hills are green. Today Kevin took us to some hotsprings where the locals go, so we sat in piping hot water looking out over pine trees freshly dusted in snow. Amazing to think that 7 days ago we were boiling in Vientiane, Laos. Kevin told us a lot about his family on the drive, which was also fascinating, since he is our age and knows our world as well as the way China used to be, and of course knows how the cultural revolution impacted his family (father was from a landlord family, so he was shipped ot the farms and kept out of school, and his mother was from a "good" family (i.e. poor as dirt), so she got to work for the military (really, a good thing relatively). but once that business was over, they both went to college. Incredible stuff here. He remembers growing up when his family's one bicycle and one watch (yes, a watch) were the most expensive items his family owned. Now, at 28, he runs a hotel and takes foreign tourists to Tibet and has a nice big SUV that he bought last year. What a change.
Today for lunch we decided to go where the locals go. No english menu, and I forgot the phrasebook (oops). So we just pointed to what other people were eating, and ordered that. Worked out wonderfully, and it cost us about 6Y, which is less than a dollar and was more than we could eat. We normally pay aroudn 30Y for lunch bc we go to touristy spots with english menus. So if you're coming to China, learn Chinese first. Right.
So that's a big long blog. hope I don't lose it. We still can't see if our posts are going up, but at least they are being saved.
I hope you all are doing well. Feel free to email us- it helps us feel like we haven't fallen off the planet! Though sometimes there's nothing we can do to keep from feeling that way. :)
Take care,
Betsy and Eric
but yep, we're leaving tomorrow morning at 9:10am. To Lhasa form Zhongdian (where we are now), its simple to travel and get permits, and while we need to say we are part of a group, a group of 2 or even 1 is ok, and more people speak English in Lhasa than in the other parts of China where we've been! So here we go.
You may remember that no less tha n4 days ago we said we'd be offline for 10 days. Plans change. Well, the truth is that after 2 nights in Tiger leaping Gorge, we decended to a small town (10 homes) where we thought we'd be able to find a guide to lead us for an additional 2 or 3 day hike, and discovered that (1) the hike was super wicked steep, and (2) the guy who knows about guide was well, as my dad would put it, "mean spirited" and we didn't want to deal with him. So we split a car with 4 Israelis and 2 british foreign corrospondants to go back to the town where our hike originated. From here we were told we could go to Zhongdian, where we are now.
But I want to tell more about the British foreign corrospondants. I think they might be famous. Of course I cant' remember their last names, but one is the cheif economics editor for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for Reuters (which is mostly a financial news source), and the other is the woman on the ground in China for the London times (at first she said "the times" and we said oh, the New york times? and her husband kinda smirked and said "no. The ORIGINAL times". and us: "oh, London" (doh!). She's been in China for 20 years. So they decided we were ok, and let us share their taxi from Qiaotou to Zhongdian. IT was awesome, because even tho they were on vacation, they are journalists and couldn't help investigating a little local buz/scandal happening at Tiger Leaping Gorge. See, they explained to us, there are two issues. First, it is unclear where the water level will rise to when they build the dam (part of the government's Three Gorges Project to produice hydroelectric power, much to the detriment of millions of people and the natural world). So the locals don't know exactly where to build and where not to build. Many are just building anyway because this area is a new tourist hot spot, even though in 2-3 years their buildings will be up to 200 meters under water. And they don't know where theyl'l go. Even the ones whose homes won't be under water will be effected because the towns where they used to do buisiness will be gone. They currently hike down what took us 6 hours to hike up every day to do business.
So scandal number two is that now you have to pay 50 Y to get in to the gorge, and there is dispute about what happens wit hthat money. So right in front of the ticket office there are groups of men hanging aroudn and smoking and trying to intimidate the people selling the tickets by sheer force of numbers. The funniest thing (not that any of this is very funny, actually), is that Margo, and Australian who owns a guest house across the street, is in hysterics about it because sometimes the guys hang out on her steps and intimdate the tourists instead. She's also worried about the locals getting their fare share of all the tourism, so here heart is in the right place, even though she was really quite a scenario. She did, however, have a VERY cute grey cat who looked a lot like Talkeetna, which was quite therapeutic for both of us.
but back to the britts. They were totally fascinating, and know a TON about china and the current issues it faces, especially in relation to the rest of the world. Its so interesting, and of course we peppered them with questions on the 2.5 hour car ride. They live in Beijing and told us to call when we were back in town. I thinmk they were just being polite, but it is super tempting. Amazing to get their insight into a world we've been confused about for the past few weeks (well, I guess I've been confused about China for much longer than that).
So now we are in Zhongdian. Supposedly Zhongdian is Shangri-La. Cool, eh? Except neither of us really knows what that means. Does anyone else? Like heaven or something? We might google it. So, its pretty nice, although its still a lot like other chinese cities, and fewer english speakers so we're having a little trouble getting around. Luckily the owner of our guest house, Kevin, is super helpful, young, and speaks english. We're way up high- about 3200 meters, and we just feel so close to the sky. It is blue blue blue. And they left some of the trees up (or logged them so long ago they have recovered somewhat), so the hills are green. Today Kevin took us to some hotsprings where the locals go, so we sat in piping hot water looking out over pine trees freshly dusted in snow. Amazing to think that 7 days ago we were boiling in Vientiane, Laos. Kevin told us a lot about his family on the drive, which was also fascinating, since he is our age and knows our world as well as the way China used to be, and of course knows how the cultural revolution impacted his family (father was from a landlord family, so he was shipped ot the farms and kept out of school, and his mother was from a "good" family (i.e. poor as dirt), so she got to work for the military (really, a good thing relatively). but once that business was over, they both went to college. Incredible stuff here. He remembers growing up when his family's one bicycle and one watch (yes, a watch) were the most expensive items his family owned. Now, at 28, he runs a hotel and takes foreign tourists to Tibet and has a nice big SUV that he bought last year. What a change.
Today for lunch we decided to go where the locals go. No english menu, and I forgot the phrasebook (oops). So we just pointed to what other people were eating, and ordered that. Worked out wonderfully, and it cost us about 6Y, which is less than a dollar and was more than we could eat. We normally pay aroudn 30Y for lunch bc we go to touristy spots with english menus. So if you're coming to China, learn Chinese first. Right.
So that's a big long blog. hope I don't lose it. We still can't see if our posts are going up, but at least they are being saved.
I hope you all are doing well. Feel free to email us- it helps us feel like we haven't fallen off the planet! Though sometimes there's nothing we can do to keep from feeling that way. :)
Take care,
Betsy and Eric
Sunday, April 02, 2006
ciaou until 10 days from now
hey all-
Eric and I are about to launch into our hiking leg of the trip, which means no internet access. So don't think we're just copping out on the blog. I have really been enjoying doing this writing and love that some people are aparently reading it. :) Since we're back in China, we can *post* to our blog, but we cannot actually see it, so if anyone is writing comments, thank you and keep doing it because we'll try to read it from Mongolia. If anyone wants to post comments and you haven't figured it out yet, you just click the "comments" link at the end of a blog entry.
So. Lijiang is beautiful, but also turns out to be quite another tourist trap. So we are excited to be moving on. Its quite hard to navigate without speaking the language, so it took me about 20 minutes to buy 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner last night. Eric was quite amused. It took abotu 4 Chinese women to help me figure out which bottle was which. Happily we made the right choice and my hair is all clean now (eric is also happy about that). What happened to the shampoo I had brought? Well actually, since you ask, its another story about toilets. See, here you don't throw your used TP in the toilet- you throw it in a trash can and empty it daily. Its their system (they make "night soil" and in some places use it for fertilizer). So,when we were in Nong Khai at the yoga retreat, my conditioner went missing. Finally I did the math and realized it had been on a little sill above the toilet trash. And it wasn't there anymore. Without digging, I realized it had fallen. So no more conditioner. After last nights' 20 minutes of charades, I happily had a new bottle (as I said). First thing I did was put it in the bathroom, on the sink. And the first thing that happened was... yep, it fell into the toilet trash.
sigh.
So I just sucked it up, pulled it out, and washed it with hot soapy water. It has been another form of "tourist tax." Eric has found it all to be quite funny. I'm much more careful now. MUCH.
I promise that the next time I write it won't be about toilets. It might be about nasty food though, because we have some stories about that too. Really tho, there is some beautiful scenery here- some snowcapped peaks and cherry trees and willows and beautiful clear streams with goldfish swimming in them. Keep that image in your head.
All be well,
Betsy and Eric
Eric and I are about to launch into our hiking leg of the trip, which means no internet access. So don't think we're just copping out on the blog. I have really been enjoying doing this writing and love that some people are aparently reading it. :) Since we're back in China, we can *post* to our blog, but we cannot actually see it, so if anyone is writing comments, thank you and keep doing it because we'll try to read it from Mongolia. If anyone wants to post comments and you haven't figured it out yet, you just click the "comments" link at the end of a blog entry.
So. Lijiang is beautiful, but also turns out to be quite another tourist trap. So we are excited to be moving on. Its quite hard to navigate without speaking the language, so it took me about 20 minutes to buy 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner last night. Eric was quite amused. It took abotu 4 Chinese women to help me figure out which bottle was which. Happily we made the right choice and my hair is all clean now (eric is also happy about that). What happened to the shampoo I had brought? Well actually, since you ask, its another story about toilets. See, here you don't throw your used TP in the toilet- you throw it in a trash can and empty it daily. Its their system (they make "night soil" and in some places use it for fertilizer). So,when we were in Nong Khai at the yoga retreat, my conditioner went missing. Finally I did the math and realized it had been on a little sill above the toilet trash. And it wasn't there anymore. Without digging, I realized it had fallen. So no more conditioner. After last nights' 20 minutes of charades, I happily had a new bottle (as I said). First thing I did was put it in the bathroom, on the sink. And the first thing that happened was... yep, it fell into the toilet trash.
sigh.
So I just sucked it up, pulled it out, and washed it with hot soapy water. It has been another form of "tourist tax." Eric has found it all to be quite funny. I'm much more careful now. MUCH.
I promise that the next time I write it won't be about toilets. It might be about nasty food though, because we have some stories about that too. Really tho, there is some beautiful scenery here- some snowcapped peaks and cherry trees and willows and beautiful clear streams with goldfish swimming in them. Keep that image in your head.
All be well,
Betsy and Eric
Saturday, April 01, 2006
more photos- Laos
here are a few shots- its time consuming to upload so this will have to tide you over until you come see us in MOntreal and we show you our 5 hour version.
you'll love it.
-b & e
Update - 4/1/06
Hi folks. It's Eric here - the less diligent blog poster.
I hope you are well. We arrived last night in the town of Lijiang, in the Yunnan province of China. It is quite a beautiful place - a UNESCO World Heritage site with ancient classic Chinese architecture, placed at the based of a huge snow-capped mountain. I am not sure if Betsy put this update in the blog or not yet, but they are filming a movie here, and today asked Betsy to be part of it. She actually did wonderfully playing a character with some similarities to Xena Princess Warrior. Anyway, they have asked us to travel with them for awhile so that they can film Betsy in a couple of other locations. It seems like a really good opportunity, so I think we might extend our trip here, and continue on with them. We are really excited about it. They were able to offer me a position in the Make Up department. We'll keep you posted.
(Happy April 1st)
Eric
I hope you are well. We arrived last night in the town of Lijiang, in the Yunnan province of China. It is quite a beautiful place - a UNESCO World Heritage site with ancient classic Chinese architecture, placed at the based of a huge snow-capped mountain. I am not sure if Betsy put this update in the blog or not yet, but they are filming a movie here, and today asked Betsy to be part of it. She actually did wonderfully playing a character with some similarities to Xena Princess Warrior. Anyway, they have asked us to travel with them for awhile so that they can film Betsy in a couple of other locations. It seems like a really good opportunity, so I think we might extend our trip here, and continue on with them. We are really excited about it. They were able to offer me a position in the Make Up department. We'll keep you posted.
(Happy April 1st)
Eric
the eaves of the world
Hello dear people,
We're pretty darned close to the roof of the world here in Lijiang, Yunnan Province (China). Hoping to upload some photographic proof. And some shots from Laos- those will be forthcoming. (hopefully).
We have had some slightly humorous adventures since leaving Laos- already! Where to start. How about the 9 hour busride through the bumpy hills of Southwest China- from Kunming to Lijian. What was funny? Well, thankfully it was nice and cool, but I don't know who to blame about the three back to back severely violent movies that blared for most of the ride. Severely violent. I won't go in to more detail, but for Kaja and Kate who will remember that the ONE scary movie I watched with them I had to watch from under a blanket, you know this was not a pleasant experience for me. And I tried to keep Eric from watching too. Who needs that poison in their brain? And all blaring in Chinese, even the American movie had been dubbed. We each had one ipod earpeace in, trying to focus on the nice hippie music mix that Leah made for Charlie (and then Charlie copied for me). And I tried to knit peacefully. When the movies finally ended, I found I had mostly been holding my breath.
The good news about the bus trip were the roadside stops- at one you could buy FRESH PINEAPPLE. Oh the joy. ALmost as good as chocolate. Then at the next one, right when we were wondering how on earth we would get dinner, we stopped at another place where you order fresh veggies (and meat) and its made on the spot. Of course, don't think that we knew how to navigate this meal. We sort of followed the other people from the bus (all Chinese, no english speakers) to this little room that was filled with bins of all kinds of vegetables and other items (mushrooms, meat-like things, potatoes..). A young woman came up to us and said "meat and potatoes?" which I suppose is the most common request from whitish-pink people like us who have the audacity to travel without speaking the language. We sort of nodded, not really wanting either. THen Eric pointed to some bok choy, and she smiled and pointed to some mushrooms, which they often stir fry with bok choy, and then escorted us out of the little room, across the courtyard. I suppose across the courtyard is the right place for tourists. So we waited there, hoping that some food might come. It did. Eric even looked up the word "rice" in our phrase book and went and spoke it to some of the people who seemed to be runing the place, and they giggled at him and nodded. We both wonder if he managed to say something about their grandmothers instead.
delicious, anyway, and way better than any roadside stand in the states.
We got in around 10pm, and as usually happens when we show up somewhere new, some local sizes us up and offers to take us to their guest house. A young woman had that role this time, and she took us to this tiny place that is probably new and definitely immaculate. The room is about 2 feet longer than the bed we share, and a TV is wedged in along the side (not sure how you would *watch* it from the bed). But we have our own bathroom, which is nice, and it has a seated toilet (instead of the squaters, which require a high level of balance and toe strength). I know you guys are so thrilled to be hearing about toilets. We'll try to keep you in the know. Amazing how important they are when traveling.
So here we are in Lijiang. As is again the case in most tourist spots, even ones as remote as this (and we are headed to more remote soon), there is a hip little backpacker cafe filled with cigarette smoke, fruit smoothies, coffee, and internet. And of course, they are playing Jack Johnson. Because what else is there to play?
Today we biked to a small town about 9km from here, under a huge snow-capped peak the whole way. Totally beautiful. And so much contrast- we biked through these tiny tiny old towns with traditional chinese roofs, and then suddenly we'd be in the middle of some huge construction project with cement mixers and huge trucks full of rocks driving by, all the while accompanied by various locals on bikes, or women carrying children, or little bands of kids saying "hello" and "good AFTERnoon!" And then we'd pass wheat fields, and then whammo, a huge "world heritage site" that is all spruced up for the tourists. And so goes China, so far.
We're here for another 2-3 weeks, then we head to Mongolia. SOmetimes the trip feels fast, sometimes slow. But so far we've avoided sunburn and stomach issues. Keep your fingers crossed.
I miss you all.
xoxo
betsy
We're pretty darned close to the roof of the world here in Lijiang, Yunnan Province (China). Hoping to upload some photographic proof. And some shots from Laos- those will be forthcoming. (hopefully).
We have had some slightly humorous adventures since leaving Laos- already! Where to start. How about the 9 hour busride through the bumpy hills of Southwest China- from Kunming to Lijian. What was funny? Well, thankfully it was nice and cool, but I don't know who to blame about the three back to back severely violent movies that blared for most of the ride. Severely violent. I won't go in to more detail, but for Kaja and Kate who will remember that the ONE scary movie I watched with them I had to watch from under a blanket, you know this was not a pleasant experience for me. And I tried to keep Eric from watching too. Who needs that poison in their brain? And all blaring in Chinese, even the American movie had been dubbed. We each had one ipod earpeace in, trying to focus on the nice hippie music mix that Leah made for Charlie (and then Charlie copied for me). And I tried to knit peacefully. When the movies finally ended, I found I had mostly been holding my breath.
The good news about the bus trip were the roadside stops- at one you could buy FRESH PINEAPPLE. Oh the joy. ALmost as good as chocolate. Then at the next one, right when we were wondering how on earth we would get dinner, we stopped at another place where you order fresh veggies (and meat) and its made on the spot. Of course, don't think that we knew how to navigate this meal. We sort of followed the other people from the bus (all Chinese, no english speakers) to this little room that was filled with bins of all kinds of vegetables and other items (mushrooms, meat-like things, potatoes..). A young woman came up to us and said "meat and potatoes?" which I suppose is the most common request from whitish-pink people like us who have the audacity to travel without speaking the language. We sort of nodded, not really wanting either. THen Eric pointed to some bok choy, and she smiled and pointed to some mushrooms, which they often stir fry with bok choy, and then escorted us out of the little room, across the courtyard. I suppose across the courtyard is the right place for tourists. So we waited there, hoping that some food might come. It did. Eric even looked up the word "rice" in our phrase book and went and spoke it to some of the people who seemed to be runing the place, and they giggled at him and nodded. We both wonder if he managed to say something about their grandmothers instead.
delicious, anyway, and way better than any roadside stand in the states.
We got in around 10pm, and as usually happens when we show up somewhere new, some local sizes us up and offers to take us to their guest house. A young woman had that role this time, and she took us to this tiny place that is probably new and definitely immaculate. The room is about 2 feet longer than the bed we share, and a TV is wedged in along the side (not sure how you would *watch* it from the bed). But we have our own bathroom, which is nice, and it has a seated toilet (instead of the squaters, which require a high level of balance and toe strength). I know you guys are so thrilled to be hearing about toilets. We'll try to keep you in the know. Amazing how important they are when traveling.
So here we are in Lijiang. As is again the case in most tourist spots, even ones as remote as this (and we are headed to more remote soon), there is a hip little backpacker cafe filled with cigarette smoke, fruit smoothies, coffee, and internet. And of course, they are playing Jack Johnson. Because what else is there to play?
Today we biked to a small town about 9km from here, under a huge snow-capped peak the whole way. Totally beautiful. And so much contrast- we biked through these tiny tiny old towns with traditional chinese roofs, and then suddenly we'd be in the middle of some huge construction project with cement mixers and huge trucks full of rocks driving by, all the while accompanied by various locals on bikes, or women carrying children, or little bands of kids saying "hello" and "good AFTERnoon!" And then we'd pass wheat fields, and then whammo, a huge "world heritage site" that is all spruced up for the tourists. And so goes China, so far.
We're here for another 2-3 weeks, then we head to Mongolia. SOmetimes the trip feels fast, sometimes slow. But so far we've avoided sunburn and stomach issues. Keep your fingers crossed.
I miss you all.
xoxo
betsy
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