Day 77 - Shangri-la

07.10.09

Today I'm going to try and extend my visa, apparently Shangri-la is the place to get it done. It should be more or less on the spot, as opposed to other places which can take 3-5 days. I'm camped outside the office at 9am and pick up my forms and am told to come back in the afternoon to get it finalised after they have done their checks. Alan left early in the morning, leaving me, Michel and Ilya to go for a wander, but Ilya isn't ready so it's just my bearded Latin friend, we have a walk around the Gompa overlooking the old town with it's colossal prayer wheel, definitely built for the tourist industry and then rendezvous with Ilya for a BBQ skewer lunch. The afternoon sees my visa extension processed at the speed of light and I walk away with another months stay in China and only 16 quid lighter (Much better than the 100+ it cost me to get it in the UK)








The development of the day happens when I check my email in the evening and find that I have a message from Procter and Gamble about my start date and my brand. To my humongous surprise and colossal shock, my start date isn't next year around February or March like I thought it was, but is in fact now on the 1st December, with my brand Salon Professional. That puts a massive spanner in the works as I don't want come back to the UK at the end of November for literally two days and then head straight over to Geneva in December. My Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand mission now needs some serious thought and planning as I don't have time to complete it all. I have around 3 or 4 weeks or travelling left, time to get some planning on the go and decide my next steps.

Day 76 - Daocheng, Shangri-la

06.10.09

Today we leave Sichuan and enter Yunnan province on our Shangri-la bound bus which leaves Daocheng bus station at 6am and we have to board at 5.30am, so it's a viciously early wake up and get ready. We depart still in the dead of the night and get to watch the sunrise over the mountains and then some spectacular natural highlights, including a sea of clouds settled in a valley beneath the road and Yunanese mountains that look like they are right out of some sort of National Geographic film. The driver makes stops at some picturesque sights and some that just seem plain pointless, but all in all it is a fantastic journey that racks up a very healthy 12 hours sitting on small public bus. Luckily I have my mp3 player and headphones to keep me entertained with the latest downloaded dance albums and my mandarin lessons, Michel however informs me that he is starting to go mad from the same 3 Tibetian dance songs, which have been on repeat for about 8 hours. I listen for about 30 mins and sure enough he is right, the same three songs are on a pulsating repeat... back to Hed Kandi it is.

We pull into Shangri-la at about 6pm and hunt out our various residences. I have booked a room in a hostel in the Old town of Shangri-la, while Alan, Michel and Ilya are going to where Alan's girlfriend is staying in a hotel in the new town. It's more or less the same as my place has lots of character, is an old building and is in a very interesting part of town, but I share with 3 other people; on the other hand they have a modern en suite hotel room which has two beds, so they just pair up. Comfort vs. location and character, always go with the location and character.

Day 75 - Litang, Daocheng

05.10.09

Today is the last time I will use a minibus as from here on in it is all real, official public buses. For the last journey, what should I get? A ride to rival the rally driving nutters, maybe we should try and do an Evil Knievel style jump over other buses, take every turn with a handbrake and try some Grand Turismo style driving... It's better than all of this.

I am up and in the minibus at 8am, but we are still waiting on other passengers from the hotel. The driver is the brother in law of the hotel owner and seems like a very friendly guy, I managed to bargain a deal the last night and so have the ride for 50Y as opposed to the 75Y that the other passengers have to pay, he covertly takes my money and tells me not to tell them. When we eventually leave after a quick breakfast I am sharing with a Chinese guy called Alan, an Italian man called Michel and a Russian man called Ilya. The start of the journey is good and we head off at a reasonable pace, stopping multiple times at picture sights so we can all snap away at the scenery. After 4 or so hours of travelling we hit a police checkpoint about 15 mins away from Daocheng, as per usual we hand over our passports and all is well, until the police call over our driver and start shouting at him about something. He then comes over to the minibus and tells us to say that we are his friends and am not paying him any money when mid sentence a police officer comes over and tells him to be quiet and grabs him by his ear and drags him back over to the checkpoint. I don't know an Italian, a Brit and a Russian who can't really speak Chinese, could possibly pull off an act that we know this driver and are simply on a road trip with him. The Chinese guy, Alan, tells us that apparently the police are shouting at him because he has the wrong papers and isn't allowed to carry passengers commercially. Luckily we somehow get let through the checkpoint only for the driver to tell us that there is another one in Daocheng that he won't be able to sweet talk his way past and so we are transferred to his friends minibus, with our luggage in his car. Next the minibus, goes off road and through a village before going along the river that runs beside Daocheng. In a move out of nowhere the driver slows down and then hits a hard left straight into the river and decides that his now amphibious vehicle can walk on water. The inevitable happens and we get stuck in the middle of the river, the water lapping up at the doors and the minibus not moving anywhere. It's probably the funniest thing to happen in weeks as a small minibus with wheels the size of ten pence pieces and a structure or capability not even roughly resembling that of a 4x4, decides to attempt the impossible. The driver opens his door a bit to have a look and the water surges in over his feet, we then jump out the boot and wade across the water back to the shore, where our original driver has pulled up, obviously just about to try the same thing. We are told the only way to Daocheng is to walk to the bridge which appears to be about 30 mins away and cross there and we will be immediately in the town, so we say our goodbyes, strap on our bags and then head off, leaving the two drivers sitting on the shore waiting for help to arrive.

For my last minibus journey I couldn't have asked for anything better, pure brilliance and hysterics.

Day 74 - Litang

4.10.09

Today my final two American friends head off to Kanding where they can make their way back to Chengdu. I get up and my aim is to catch the 2pm bus to Xincheng, from where I can make my way to Shangri-la. After speaking to some people at the bus station, it turns out my bus is most probably fully booked as it is the holiday period and so once again, my travels plans are scuppered. I end up spending another night in Litang and am told by the host, that the best thing for me to do is to try and get to Daocheng, which has strong daily connections with litang. I decide on this port of call and so spend most of the day relaxing. A quick walk around town and to the massive stupa on the outskirts gives me a break and I indulge in large amounts of fried Yak dumplings which are like small Cornish pasties and go down phenomenally.

Day 73 - Litang

3.10.09

We get up for our Sky Burial experience at a bright and early 8am, wait until about 9am when the owner of the hotel then tells us that the burial is off as apparently no one died yesterday and so there is no body to 'bury'. In a way I am quite glad as thinking about it, I'm not sure it is something I want to witness. Also the turning of someones burial into a tourist attraction doesn't seem that appealing, especially as we are told that it is 'OK to take pictures'.

Seeing as we are up early, we take a walk up to the local Gompa which is undergoing either major redevelopment work or major building work, it's halls being repainted and the statues renovated/new ones cast. The Gompa is populated by dozens of young monks, some look about 7, who show us around the different buildings and lead us up to viewing platforms where we can see the rest of the Gompa's buildings and the town. I talk to one of the young monks who is about 14 and it turns out that his family live in Yunnan province, which is at fastest, about 3-4 days away by bus. It must be a hard life living so far away from your family and is a kind of extreme version of long distance boarding school. After our schooling by the young monks, we head back to the hotel and one of our party of four (Vlad) decides to have a rest, while the Italian guy (Francesco) takes a bus onwards and starting his journey off into Yunnan province. Me and Nick, decide to climb one of the hills over looking the rear of the town and what we think will be a short stroll, turns out into two hours of high altitude, out of breath hardcore steep walking. It is a viciously hard climb and considering Litang is supposed to be up there in the league of the highest towns in the world, the air is very very very noticeably thinner.

For the evening entertainment we hit a Tibetian dance hall/drinking club/bar/barn/shack, I'm not quite sure what it was, but it was quirky. With dodgy over pushed speakers and fairy lights in the roof, I'm sure we were sitting in a metal barn and it was definitely unheated. All the aesthetic points good and bad aside, the venue was amazing fun and the people so happy. Definitely recommended if you ever make it out to any Tibetian areas.

Day 72 - Ganzi, Litang

2.10.09

I met two Americans and an Italian guy yesterday who are also going to Litang and so we all decide to head off together and get a cheaper group fare. We end up getting the fare for 80Y each as opposed to 110Y, which is a very nice discount. The ride is quite slow and we are also transporting a sick monk, who is ill with a mystery ailment that gives him a stomach ache, headache and causes him to throw up every time we stop. I give him some Ibuprofen which sorts out his headache and some of the stomach pain and then some herbal tea which I picked up and is supposed to be good for stomach bugs. I'm not sure if the herbal tea worked, but good old Tesco Ibuprofen got rid of his headache nice and fast. We pull into Litang in the early evening and are soon followed by bus loads of Chinese tourists all travelling during the eight day national holiday. The town suddenly becomes rammed and every hotel sells all its beds, our hotel owner even putting people into his house so they can have a place to stay. My late night town exploring ends up putting me in the middle of a rainstorm and some seriously wet and windy weather, arriving back at the hotel a bit cold and damp, I am told that we have the opportunity of going to a sky burial the next day. Wikipedia describes a Sky Burial as...

Sky burial or ritual dissection was once a common funerary practice in Tibet wherein a human corpse is cut in specific locations and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements or the mahabhuta and animals – especially to birds of prey. In Tibet the practice is known as jhator, which literally means, "giving alms to the birds." The majority of Tibetans adhere to Buddhism, which teaches rebirth. There is no need to preserve the body, as it is now an empty vessel. Birds may eat it, or nature may let it decompose. So the function of the sky burial is simply the disposal of the remains. In much of Tibet the ground is too hard and rocky to dig a grave, and with fuel and timber scarce, a sky burial is often more practical than cremation.

What basically happens is the body is placed upon an altar and then cut into pieces and the bones bashed to a pulp and mixed with flour and then it is all fed to vultures who eat the body parts. I'm not quite sure if it is something I want to see, but it is common practice in this area and if we do make it, then it will be one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen.

Day 71 - Ganzi

1.10.09

The two women say they will help me to find a minibus to Litang today, so I am downstairs with my luggage at 8am, only to find that as it is the first day of the 8 day long China national holiday and also the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic Of China, no transport is being allowed in the region. I guess it's to try and limit the hordes of people who will be travelling during the week and also as it's a sensitive area, to make sure no trouble sparks up. I am assured that I will be able to get a ride tomorrow though and so put my bags back into my room and go back for a power nap.

The next part of the day is pure magic. A walk out to the edge of town, which yields a shaky old rope bridge over a river and into a forest of trees that are changing from deep green to an autumnal yellow with monks walking through in their deep red robes. At the edge of the forest I take a walk up a road lined with prayer flags and off out into the fields and hills. After around 45 mins of walking a man on a tractor pulls up beside me and asks if I want a lift and where I am going, I say I have no idea and am just walking and he tells me to hop on board. We drive past fields and through villages with plenty of Tashi Deles and people waving hello, eventually pulling up at his wooden house, where his three children (maybe 5,9, and 12) grab my hand and lead me inside. Once inside we all sit down and I am fed tea and then a hearty lunch of noodles and vegetables. I can communicate in Chinese partly with his eldest son who is learning Mandarin at school, the rest of the family speaking Tibetan. They are amazed at my camera and my pictures of the area and my travels so far. I make a couple of Origami models for them, which go down a treat and then the eldest son takes me on an exploration trip of the village. We pop into one of the neighbors houses where they are equally as hospitable and give me tea and want to make me some food, but I explain I have just ate. We then leave with another two children and climb up to the top of the nearby hill with commanding views of the landscape below. The whole climb is magical, the laughter of the 3 kids, the constant picture taking and them holding my hand guiding me up the paths, they are so kind and so joyful it's unbelievable. Once we come down from the top, the first family insist that I should stay with them tonight for free, but once I explain that I need to catch an early bus the next morning they understand. I leave with enough time to get back before nightfall and I can only describe the whole experience as magical. It feels like I have just walked through the wardrobe in a C.S. Lewis novel and into a magical world. Back along the prayer flag road, through the colour changing forest and over the rickety bridge and back to the normal world and the town centre. It has to be one of the best days so far, the people so kind, friendly and pure of heart. Absolutely wonderful.