Tibetan dance in Shangri-La

Every evening locals gather at the main square in Shangri-La for a daily dose of Tibetan dance. No agenda, no money, no strings attached, just dance.

Nepal Part 1

In short, Nepal is awesome. Easily a highlight of five months of travelling. After China, Nepal felt like a totally different world. It is poor. Like really really poor. Nepal makes even Myanmar look rather prosperous. Almost half of the population lives under poverty and unemployment is rampant. Infrastructure ranges from half-assed to non-existent. Signs of construction are all around, but they appear more like unfinished business than work in progress. Roads are abysmal and traffic jams can occur anywhere and anytime. Travelling is truly slow â€“ covering a distance of 100km may easily take up to 6 hours. Power cuts occur daily according to a load-balancing schedule. Even Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, gets only around 12 hours of daily power. During the three week stay in Nepal, we have not been to a single air-conditioned space. Indeed it is hard to maintain air conditioning with scarce electricity. As a reference every ATM in Indonesia has its own AC unit, probably to make you feel rich whenever you withdraw cash.
However, the biggest problem of all is piss-poor hygiene. I had managed to avoid any stomach problems for four months, but after three days in Kathmandu diarrhoea got me immobilised for several days. A major advertising point for many tourist restaurants is hygienic food. Eating out is a gamble, whether your next meal results in a bad stomach or even worse a full-blown food poisoning. Meat is best to be avoided altogether, as refrigerators are not necessarily connected to backup power generators during power black-outs. Tap water is outright poisonous and even locals advise against using tap water for brushing teeth or rinsing vegetables, let alone drinking. It is wild world out there.

Kathmandu has got all the signs of a terrible city: dusty and dirty, noisy and polluted, full of traffic jams and just plain chaotic. When it rained, streets were covered with mud. On the other hand, when it was hot, mud turned into dust and rose into air by strong winds. I could not decide which scenario was worse, while pondering a whole new born appreciation for cities made of concrete and stone. But despite all this Kathmandu is surprisingly enjoyable and does not scream “GET OUT OF HERE NOW” on every corner. Thamel, the main tourist ghetto, is pleasant enough, although a bit hectic for my liking. It is an excellent place to shop for pashminas of dubious quality, yak wool products, singing bowls and trekking equipment. If you prefer quieter environment, hotels on Paknajol Street not too far away from Thamel are the way to go.
Tourist sights of Kathmandu are interesting enough, although at this point of the journey we had little interest to go see them. Additionally a dual pricing scheme was a major turn-off: free for locals and $10-15 for tourists. Especially when a sight in question was just a public area, where locals lived (such as Kathmandu Durbar Square as well as Patan and Bhaktapur towns). We spent a lot of time discussing that concept of fairness and put much effort into finding alternative ways to get in. All in good faith.

Swayamnhunath Temple, Kathmandu.

Prayer wheels at Swayamnhunath Temple.

Kathmandu street-life.

Durbar Square, Kathmandu.

Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu.

Boudhanath Stupa, Kathmandu.

A woman sorting seeds in Bhaktapur.

Bhaktapur

Pottery Square, Bhaktapur

Swayamnhunath Temple

Sadhus in front of the Durbar Square, Kathmandu.

Kathmandu

Kathmandu street-life.

Lit candles in Boudhanath Temple, Kathmandu.

A monk in Kathmandu.

Buddhas.

Goats chilling out in Bhaktapur

A cow taking a rest in the shadow.

People celebrating Buddha Purima in Boudhanath Temple.

Kathmandu street-life.

China Part 6: Madness

China is weird. On the surface China looks fairly normal, but after spending some time there you start noticing how weird and absurd it is. Toddlers, for example, have their trousers slitted in the back for easy defecating anytime and anywhere. Deodorant is virtually unknown and attempts to buy one were met with offers of an insect repellent. People in parks walk backwards while clapping their hands, purposedly for health benefits. Another example is traffic. At first sight it looks organised and neat and definitely less chaotic than in an average Asian country, but after a while you realise that under this veil of order and structure there is a total chaos. Traffic lights are just for reference, as well as road directions. There is no concept of yielding to pedestrians. Drivers rather speed up and overtake a pedestrian, only to stop a traffic jam some meters later. All these little absurdities add up, until it becomes too much to bear. After a week in China, I realised that no matter what I do, I will be poorly understood and people will stare at me anyway. Thus madness ensued. I explained strange things to strangers in Finnish, yelled random things in Russian and just acted weirdly all around. My girlfriend, on her part, turned into an angry bitch periodically getting China rages. Dark stuff.

China is difficult. English is generally not understood at all, even on a very basic level. No basic words, no numbers, not even “yes” or “no”. Just nothing. There is almost zero effort among Chinese to understand you either. After a few unsuccessful communication attempts, locals just give up on you. Having a basic command of Chinese is a must for travelling in China. There are so many domestic tourists in China that there is little effort to tailor tourist services to international clientele. At times I felt unwelcome and wondered what I was doing in China in the first place.
Travelling around China poses its own challenges too. Buses and especially trains are crowded and tickets are often sold out. Booking tickets at least several days in advance is usually a good idea. That goes even more true for the festival season, which seems to be on in some form during the entire spring. On top of that China is surprisingly expensive too. We spent more money in China than anywhere else. Flying out of China on a week notice and enjoying excellent food contributed a lot to the expenses, but apart from that everything else seemed to be more expensive than the last time I travelled to China three years ago.

The last time I visited China I mostly liked it. There were some misunderstandings and problems in communication, but no dramatic experiences. This time the China experience was an emotional roller coaster. At times we hated it all and wanted to just get out of the country as soon as possible. But at other times it was not all that bad and made all the hassle almost worth it. This made me think that you do not really experience China, until you begin to hate it. Sharing my experience with other travellers and expats confirmed my theory. On the last day of our stay in China we went to Sichuan opera. It was a fabulous, well-made show with dance, music, comedy and whatsoever, but it made little sense to us. Just like China – well executed, but made no sense to an outsider.

The world’s largest building in Chengdu.

Inside thew world’s largest building.

Men playing Chinese chess on a street of Chengdu.

A stereotypical Chinese man.

Panda breeding center, Chengdu.

Red panda

Giant panda’s second favourite activity.

Panda’s most favourite activity.

People queuing for electric carts in Panda research center. Only in China.

Fake mine is apparently a big problem in China.

Puer tea cakes in a tea shop.

Phases of Mao Tse Dun on the streets of Cheng Du.

A woman washing vegetables near Qingcheng

Old town near Qingcheng.

A giant spider and its web, Qingcheng.

Sichuan opera.

Ear cleaning is provided as a service in Sichuan opera.

A kettle with an overlong spout is used for refilling tea cps of patrons during opera.

Restaraunt clients collect hot pot sauce in a plastic bag after the meal. Because China.

China Part 5: The Surrogate Tibet

The original plan was to travel to Tibet and then continue to Nepal by land making a stop at the Everest base camp on the way. The plan was shattered to pieces after researching prerequisites needed for a Tibet visit. Namely two different permits you have to apply at least two weeks beforehand, as well as a mandatory packaged tour. The cheapest quote we got was around 1000â‚¬ per person for a week long tour, which would involve sitting on a back seat of a jeep most of the time. Uhm, not something I would call a good deal. So the plan was hatched and instead we opted for Shangri La, a dose of Tibet in the northern parts of Yunnan without silly rules and fees. Interestingly enough all this hassle made me sympathetic for the Free Tibet cause. I guess this is not what the Chinese government had in mind by imposing restrictions on Tibet travel.

Despite the cheesy name, Shangri La turned out very enjoyable and blew Dali and Lijiang out of the water. The original name of the city is Zhongdian. In 2001 in order to promote tourism the government decided that it was the location of the fictional Shangri La described in James Hilton’s novel and thus the city was given the new name. In a karmic twist of fate, Shangri La’s old town got burned down in January 2014, which affected domestic tourism in a negative way. Unlike other destinations on Yunnan’s tourist trail, Shangri La has tranquil atmosphere with the burnt old town and few tourists adding a spooky touch. It is beautiful though. Every evening on the main square there is popular public dancing to the neo rave take of traditional Tibetan music. Totally awesome, authentic and surprisingly good music too. Surroundings include one seasonal lake, mountains and all around wonderful landscapes. A good bicycle is the best option to explore the area, but you should give some time for acclimatisation to the high altitude (3200m). Indeed in the beginningÂ any kind of negligable exercise felt like a challenge. Bicycle is also a good way to dodge entrance fees for the lake, as you can ride through the fields avoiding ticket booths on the main road. Further away there is a rather nice gorge (but not a match for Tiger Leaping Gorge) and the spectacular Bai Shui Tai water terrace. All around Shangri La is a nice place I would not mind paying a visit again.

According to a French jazz musician we met in Shangri La, there is a better chance to experience Tibet culture in the remote parts of Yunnan and Sichuan due government’s constant attempts to assimilate the culture in Tibet. Upon researching northern parts of Yunnan seemed to have even more to offer. Further up north there isÂ Deqin, a gateway to a mountain range reputed to be one of the most beautiful in the world. An overland trip from Shangri La to Chengdu crossed our minds, but in the moment of weakness we had hastily booked a flight out of the country that we had to catch. All this made us almost regret that we had not stayed in China for a longer time. Maybe another trip is in order.

Curiously enough the great fire of Shangri La spared the temple in the center of the old town.

The fire spared this stupa as well.

Little of what is left of Shangri La’s old town.

A smile among ruins.

Shangri La hills.

Locals buying a breakfast.

Art disciples doing a tangka, traditional Tibetan art, painting

The typical Tibetan affair

Villagers shopping in a village near Shangri La.

A Buddhist monastery some 20km outside of Shangri La. It was closed, when I visited it, but a kind monastery keeper showed me around anyway. The only thing he kept saying was “om mani padme hum”. A magical experience.

The daily dance at Shangri La’s main square.

One form of praying is to spin a praying mill that has prayers printed on a piece of paper inside. Efficient and easy.

Typical Tibet affair.

Picturesque non-touristic lake (read: no ticket booths) near Shangri La.

A mysterious sign in the monastery.

This little boy was charmed by my bicycle and I let him to ride it. Much happiness ensued.

Bicycle is the best option to explore the prairie of Shangri La. Avoid roads to dodge entrance fees.

Horse riding is another popular option.

Yaks in the wild.

Stunning nature near Baishui white water terrace

We could not figure out whether this man genuinely wanted to help us out or extract money in some elaborated scheme.

Shallow water ponds combined with tree reflections produce a magnificent effect.

Baishuitai Water Terrace

We actually managed to catch a glimpse of Lhasa, when our flight to Kathmandu had to make an emergency landing at the Lhasa airport. They did not let us out of the airplane, but it was for the better, as the Lhasa airport is apparently a terrible place full of security checks.

China Part 4: The Good Parts

In retrospect the best things in China this time were food, tea and hiking in Tiger Leaping Gorge. Indeed Chinese food is amazing and I am talking about the real Chinese food and not a poor substitute you get in the West. It is beyond me why it is near impossible to get an authentic Chinese food experience outside China. It cannot be because of unique ingredients or complexity of recipes, as most dishes are extremely simple. For example, take cucumber and peanuts. Add soy sauce and a splash of sesame oil and you get an amazing side dish. Simple as that, but I have never seen it served anywhere outside of China. Anyhow, it seems that the Chinese have mastered everything food related, including desserts and bread (something that Asian cuisine often falls short on). My own favourites include deep fried bread and tea eggs, a typical breakfast affair. Normally I am not a big fan of dumplings, unless we are talking about the Chinese kind. I don’t know whether it is the sauce or some other mysterious ingredients, but it is simple, effective and yummy. China felt unbearable at times, but a good meal always lifted the spirits.

China made me realise how poor tea cultures of other countries are (with an exception of Japan). What you normally get in other countries is black tea and no name green tea if you are lucky. In China sky is the limit when it comes to tea. White, green, black, puerh, oolong, lapsang and so on. Each comes in hundreds of varieties and prices fluctuate from dirt cheap to crazily expensive. A new finding was buckwheat tea, a special kind of buckwheat infused in hot water. Tasty and reputed to help to lose weight or at least what they told us in a tea shop. Buying tea proved to be hard though, due to the language barrier and the general ignorance about tea quality. Unless you really know what you are doing, the best way to buy tea is in a supermarket, instead of a specialised tea shop with no prices on display. After an hour of searching, quarrelling and frustration we managed to find a tea shop in Chengdu with an English speaking girl. Another hour was spent tasting teas and getting confused about prices, which fluctuated every time we asked. Haggling was out of question as the girl assured us that teas were high quality and unlike other shops they did not rip tourists off. Finally prices were agreed on and a bunch of teas were we bought. The experience left me with a feeling that we overpaid, but it was compensated by a free puerh tea cake that the clerk put in a shopping bag apparently by accident. Whether it was a honest mistake or intentional, I will never know. No complaints on my part, though.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the best known hiking trails in China. Located between Lijiang and Shangri La, it is a natural stop in Yunnan’s tourist trail. It is amazingly beautiful and can be easily walked in two days (or three if you choose for a longer route). There is no other option than walking, which filters out hordes of Chinese tourists. I had a vision that in five years there would be a cable car going through the entire gorge, but for now it is refreshingly undeveloped. Just natural trails, small mountain villages providing lodging and food, plus occasional shop stands selling refreshments and charging money for taking pictures from “their” viewpoints. Not that many visitors too, a rare treat in China! The undeveloped nature of the gorge did not prevent the government from charging an entrance fee. In fact the fee is even applicable if you ride a car on the public road in the bottom of the gorge. Because China.