Day 65 - Tagong

25.09.09

WHAM! That's the sound of a headache, backache, cold feet, cold everything, neckache, wobbly legs, congested head and feeling like I have a cold. The high altitude bus came along while I was sleeping, ran me over and didn't even phone 999. As soon as I wake up I take some pills, pack some in my bag, rehydrate like I have spent time in the desert and take it easy for the first part of the morning. I try and drink lots of green tea in the hope that's it herbal qualities will aid my aclimitasation and eventually I start to feel better, although I think it's just the pain killers.

Today we take a walk to Jomo Gompa, which is supposed to be about 2 hours away on foot. We get so far along the road and then take a detour onto a path following a stream past herds of yaks. We all know this is not the main way to the Gompa, but hopefully it will end up being the scenic route.









The lesson of today is that my body is not fond of high places and when it comes to altitude I think it bails quite early.

Day 64 - Kanding, Tagong

24.09.09

In our group of 6 Israelis and one Brit I have been designated interpreter and head communication man as I am the only one who can speak any Chinese. I'm quite surprised at how much I can communicate and in all our morning dealings I haven't hit a sizable wall yet, I had to have a peek at the phrase book a few times, but the foundations of the language are sitting nice and steady in the depths of my mind somewhere. The main task apart from the breakfasts, paying and talking about the computer is to arrange a minibus for the 7 of us to head to Kanding. After some negotiations we head out at 11.30 and what I'm told should be a 2 hour journey takes nearly 5. I think the main reason is that now we are past Kanding the roads become the real Sichuan-Tibet Highway and it some places this consists of just a dirt track, the driver is going reasonably fast, but not too bad although we manage to acquire a burst tyre half way through. Once it's changed we are back on the road and when hit a pass of around 4000m the views of the land below are phenomenal and its at about this point that I notice I am out of breadth if I take a short walk and also I am starting to feel a little strange.

When we arrive in Tagong at 3400m up, it is a real one street town and reminds of spaghetti western movies where the horses have been replaced by motorbikes. This town has a real Tibetan flavour and every building is in a Tibetan style and the people don't look Chinese, there are also Monks everywhere and the main Monastery, Tagong Gompa, is huge. Me and the two Israeli guys decide to climb one of the nearby hills to get a view of the town below and the surrounding plains, it only takes about 10mins, but as I get to the top on comes a headache and I'm panting like I've run a marathon. When we get back to our guesthouse I can feel my headache starting to take route and I also feel weak and a little funny, only one thing for it, Ibuprofen. After dinner we head off to our rooms, me and my two hill climbing buddies, choosing the cheapest dorm room which we have to our selves, but the door doesn't close properly and the windows have holes in them, so it is absolutely freezing cold at night and it takes me hours to fall asleep.

Day 63 - Chengdu, Kanding

23.09.09

Getting used to the early wake ups and I'm up and out of bed at about 6.30am ready to make my way to the bus station to jump on my bus bound for the town of Kanding and the start of my high altitude journeys. As I'm milling around the hostel I end up talking to an Israeli guy and girl called Itay and Moran, who are also going to Kanding that day and we all end up on the same 9am bus heading west. Pulling into Kanding which sits at a comfortable altitude of 2616m, it is noticeably colder up here than down in Chengdu, I'm still braving it in a T-shirt as it's not freezing... yet.

We visit a few of the monasteries in Kanding and I want to try and climb one of the nearby mountains, but as it's getting dark soon and a British tourist was murdered on it a few years ago he thinks it's not a good idea. I guess he has a point, although if I was by myself I know I would have recklessly climbed right to the top. In a massive coincidence, there are two people staying in the same place in Kanding who are Israeli... they were also in my room in Chengdu, small world. About 30mins later, we meet two more people in the hostel and low and behold they are also Israeli, it gets even smaller. For dinner we hit a Tibetan style restaurant and sip Yak butter tea, eat a plate of Yak meat and lovely potato dumplings. As we are getting into Tibetan areas and approaching the Tibetan border, the architecture changes and there are a lot of Tibetan style monasteries. The people also change, starting to look different and wear more colourful clothes and seem a lot more eccentric.

The best bit about today is seeing so many monks all walking around dressed in their robes and the prize has to go to the two who were playing pool on the road side.

Day 62 - Chengdu

22.09.09

I'm not going to lie, not so fresh this morning. Eventually getting out of bed at around 10.30, I put on some washing and make my self my porridge breakfast before heading over to the local WANGBA! (Chinese for Internet Cafe), where I spend a good few hours answering emails, getting music, writing for this page and general non intensive activities. After my bash at the internet, it's a walk around Chengdu for one last time to have a look down it's old back streets as I am heading off to the wild west of China next and taking the Sichuan-Tibet highway as close as I can to the Tibet border without angering the local police force. To actually get into Tibet it seems you either need to pay over a thousand pounds for less than a weeks tour or sleep with the Chairman of China to get a permit for the area, both of which aren't really possibilities for me. Come the evening it's time to grab a bite to eat at the local kebab stall just outside the hostel and I go wild on grilled meat, tofu, dumplings and vegetables.
Today was a rest day.

Day 61 - Leshan, Chengdu

21.09.09 (24 today)

Awaking a new man and at 24 with a whole new set of skills and knowledge bestowed upon him... or just seriously tired as I need to catch a 7.30am bus from the station in the south of town and so have to wake up at about 5.30am. I get to Leshan nice and early at around 10am and take a walk around the complex, The majority (99%) of tourists go straight to the giant Buddha and that's more or less it, which means I end up having the rest of the complex more or less to my self which I take full advantage of. The temples and gardens are very peaceful and although it's quite sad I brought some Moon Cake (a type of Chinese cake that is extremely popular and originates from the moon festival in October) and sit down with around 100 Koi Carp beneath me and tuck in. When I do reach the big Buddha is it is a colossal statue chiseled out of the side of a cliff over many many years. It was built to try and calm the river beneath it and the process of dumping thousands of tons of rock into the river during it's sculpting, actually filled in the hollows of the river bed and did indeed tame it. A person can comfortably sit on it's big toe nail it's that big. Leaving the Buddha and the complex I jump on a bus back to Chengdu and run into an Aussie guy and his partner called Andy and Lauren who are also staying in Mix hostel. He is interested in organising events back in Australia and so we end up having a lot to talk about, his aim being to throw big outside events in tents! When he finds out it's my birthday today he says I can't celebrate it on my own and from this point on (about 5pm) the fun begins.

When we get back to the hostel we head straight to the beer garden and Andy gets in some beers. We are shortly joined by some more people from the hostel, some of whom Andy met yesterday and before I know it there are 9 of us all sitting down outside finishing off beers and about to head to the local hot pot restaurant for a large meal. It's a fantastic meal and we end up doing shots of a Chinese spirit which is distilled from rice and sits at a comfortable 50%. After the meal where we are joined in multiple toasts by people from other tables the route back to the hostel is via one of the Chinese outside communal gyms and we have a slightly drunken play on the machines. The night ends with drinking until 5am and Andy even gives me a gift, a stubby holder for bottles of beer that keeps them cool if you're in hot countries, he designed it himself and is for the promotion of his events company.

It has turned out to be such a great day and so unexpected being so far away from home. It's all thanks to a random meeting with an Aussie couple, maybe the visit to the giant Buddha did indeed bring me a great birthday...

Day 60 - Chengdu

20.09.09

The train gets in late at about 3pm and I make my way to Mix Hostel, the only reason I chose it is because on the flyers it says that there is free music exchange for mp3 players and you can load up on tracks. A short hop on the bus and it's into Mix Hostel which is like a Tardis, it looks small on the outside, but has an outside beer garden, large inside restaurant bar two floors of rooms and a roof terrace. After dropping off my stuff I check out Wenshu Monastery which is just around the corner. It's a massive complex and is the biggest in Chengdu, with lovely gardens and several big prayer hall/rooms, monks shuffling around in red an orange robes, it's a great place to spend a few hours. After my religious excursion I get in the thick of it and walk to the middle of the city in search of a Sichuans famous 'Hot Pot'.

The meal involves a big pot full of oil, stock and lots of chilies, where you throw in various ingredients of your choice and allow them to be cooked in a kind of Chinese spicy fondue. I end up empty handed and settle for a meal in a standard Chinese cafe before visiting my local mega mart and getting some shopping. Chengdu seems like a pleasant city, but with nothing I really want to see here I make the call to head out to the giant Buddha at Leshan tomorrow and make my birthday day trip one of seeing the biggest seated Buddha in the world. I'm a bit sceptical of the day ahead and don't think it will turn out to be one of the best birthdays, being away from home with no one around, but we shall see.

Day 59 - The Train

19.09.09

Saying goodbye to my new friends and heading off to Guilin to start my train journey north into Sichuan province for the penultimate stretch of my China journey. On board I know that the train leaves at 1.30pm and arrives at around 2.30 the next day, but in my head it's just over 12 hours. A woman who lectures in psychology back in the UK promptly puts me right and tells me that we have a 25 hour journey to Chengdu and I realise that I'm back approaching trans Siberian train journey lengths. I spend my next day chatting to her about her travels and mine and then meeting a Chinese man called Han from Chongqing, about 4 hours away from Chengdu. I think he wants to speak to me to practice his English and he tells me how he works in Guilin selling minerals and rocks like Quartz, Granite and Marble to people in America, France and Germany and is travelling to Chongqing as that's his home. He has learnt English by listening to a tape in the same way that I am trying to learn Chinese and considering he hasn't learnt it from a teacher his English is extremely good. When he finds out that it is my birthday in a few days, he offers to take me out in Chongqing and says I will not have to worry about anything while there. I am tempted, but I need to get to Chengdu and then move on to other parts of Sichuan Province and Chongqing would mess with my schedule. He's on business trips to America next year and also France and so wants to learn English so his travels and business will be easier. He is definitely up there with the business men of China and I think he isn't joking when I said he would sort my accommodation and everything else if I went to Chongqing.

Lights off at 10pm and the sleeper carriage becomes a bedroom on wheels transporting us 50 or so sleepers north back into the mainland of China and up away from it's tropical south.