Seattle is a very beautiful city, especially when it's sunny. So far, the weather has been awesome for me everywhere I've been so far, even with the brief 30 minute hail storm. The 3 days I spent in Seattle was the best weather they've had for a while.
* My first flight was when I was 5 and a half year old from Beijing to JFK. I still remember how I marveled at the experience even though I at the time couldn't grasp the great distance, both physically and psychologically, that I traveled that night. I still remember the empty 747, the stewardess who gave me toys and the search for the empty window seats. To this day I still marvel at modern transportation. The world's busiest airport boasts 89 million people a year, or 244,000 people a day. Assume an average of just 1/5 for the rest of the airports we are talking about 40,000 people passing through an airport a day. Just think about the number of people we aren't on the ground at any given time... Anyway this thought came up because as I was walking through Seattle-Tacoma, I marveled at the fact I had woken up that morning at 6am in Yosemite, and in three weeks I had gone from Baltimore, to Montreal, to San Francisco to Seattle and in a few more weeks from Anchorage to South Africa.
* In Seattle, the Pike Market Place is an INTERESTING place. Blind yodelers, hula-hooping guitar players and flower painted ninja warriors. Fish throwing and the world's first Starbucks. Alex took me on some cool hikes and then an awesome BBQ party.
Anyway, this is my short post from Anchorage, will post more after my Kayaking trip.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Hotel California
It's a been a while, I'm sitting in the preverbal Seattle Coffee shop, catching up on my photos and blog.. here are a few thoughts and happenings...
* I had been living out of my tent for the past bit and it has been beyond awesome. I'd wake up in the morning and look at a map and go 'Where do I want to spend the night tonight?' and the only constraint was that I had to pick up Patrick in San Diego Wednesday, May 7th. I had 3 and a half days to work with, it was fun! Spent one night in Big Basin SP, one in Big Sur SP (agressive squirrels), and one night in Jalama Beach, camping one dune behind the beach.
* I went into LA to check out the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood sign. I drove down to where Vine met Hollywood Blvd. Found a parking spot nearby and parked, had 1 hour parking. Walked real quick, took lots of pictures and I headed back to the car. About a block away I saw a traffic cop writing me a ticket. So I ran over as fast as I could and talked to him. I knew I was under 1 hour, so I asked him what was up. He said I was parked illegally, but I pointed out the 1 hour parking sign and the white T's on the road for the parking spot. He said it was a Red Curb (which means no parking) and a bus stop. $300 fine he says, we argue a bit, finally he agrees to write it down to $70 and tells me to take pictures and go argue my case with the courts. Take a look at the picture and tell me what you think... I personally think it's scam by either the cop or the city...
* I saw some elephant seals basking in the down the California Coast. It's something I heard about but never experienced, and never would've thought I'd see. A beach full of seals, take a look at the pictures, even my best description can't match that.
* Joshua Tree is so otherworldly. I've had it described to me before but seeing it is just different. Even pictures have difficulty capturing the weirdness of it. The best description I've heard is "it's like a Giant's Sandbox, where the Giants stacked rocks on top of each other in the most bizarre way." That is just the way Joshua Tree is, you have some of the most precariously balanced boulders I've ever seen; someone must have placed it there.
* Yosemite was just packed. Patrick and I got tired of Joshua Tree, our hands were raw from climbing sandstone so we figured we'd give Yosemite granite a try on a Saturday night. Turned out it was a bad idea. Every campsite, every hotel, every motel within 20 miles was booked for the night, we were really lucky that we did find one that had vacancies, for $129 a night. Even with the crowds I'd highly advise everyone to visit this place; the valley is just beyond-BEYOND gorgeous.
* Patrick and I (yes Patrick, we BOTH made a decision) to climb Snake Dike (5.7R) on Half Dome on our 2nd day. It's a 8 pitch 800 ft climb. With a 3-4 hour approach, 6 miles and 2500 ft in elevation change, 3-4 hour climbing and a 3-4 descent at 8 miles. So at a minimum it was a 9 hour day, to probably an average a 12 hour day. For us, it was a 16 hour day. We started hiking from the car at about 7:45, 4.5 hours later we arrived at the base of the climb at 12:30 or so. This was after some strenuous bush whacking as we could not find the trail the first time. We had a party ahead of us just starting to climbing, some people who worked for Google in Ireland. Now, the day started sunny and beautiful, by the time we got to the base of the climb it was partly cloudy and windy. Half way up the climb it started hailing on us, about small bead size hail... Lucky for us, the R sections of the climb was 5.4 so I didn't have too much issue leading it, but it didn't make me happy. I was also underdressed for the hail storm... However, as the theme of the trip has been so far, close to disaster but in the end, everything works out. Cause in the end, we summited in clear blue skies. We descended via the cables- however the uprights weren't there, so it was a bit hairy. So, in summary in 16 hours we climbed Half Dome in a hail storm, Patrick led a pitch of it, scrambled 800 ft to the summit, and hiked 8 miles back to the valley. Over all a good day.. ;)
* The day after Half Dome Patrick and I took it easy and did the tourist drive. We were so sore, the old ladies were looking at us weird while hobbled up and down the stairs. So at night we dropped by the Ahwahnee Hotel to check the place out. The place, in my mind, is the ORIGINAL high end wilderness lodge. All those resort lodges you see in all those ski resorts are just wannabees. This hotel is just stunning- big fire places, uniquely and originally decorated rooms and even the faux candles added to the atmosphere rather then detracted from it. The dining room was full of people in dinner dresses, high heels and sport jackets- who brings high heels to Yosemite? The dining room itself reminded me of the vaulted dining rooms of old English castles; the whole place was lit by faux candles, which again made it even more tasteful. On top of that each room costs at least $439, Patrick and I paid $5 each for a campsite at Camp 4.
* So in the theme of close calls. We had 1-ish flights from San Francisco. It's 180 miles from Yosemite to San Francisco, so we figured 3 hour drive and we budgeted to be there by 10am, giving us 3 hours... First we started late, instead of 7am, it ran into 7:30. Then Yosemite had road construction, some of the roads had 35mph speed limits and then we hit traffic. We got to the car return place at noon, got to the terminal at 12:30. So we were both very worried about catching our flights, Patrick's was 1:10 and mine was 1:30. Lucky for Patrick, his flight was delayed to 1:30 and for me, there was no line at the check-in or at security, so we had more then enough time to catch our flights. So again with the theme of things, close calls but all is well in the end.
* I had been living out of my tent for the past bit and it has been beyond awesome. I'd wake up in the morning and look at a map and go 'Where do I want to spend the night tonight?' and the only constraint was that I had to pick up Patrick in San Diego Wednesday, May 7th. I had 3 and a half days to work with, it was fun! Spent one night in Big Basin SP, one in Big Sur SP (agressive squirrels), and one night in Jalama Beach, camping one dune behind the beach.
* I went into LA to check out the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood sign. I drove down to where Vine met Hollywood Blvd. Found a parking spot nearby and parked, had 1 hour parking. Walked real quick, took lots of pictures and I headed back to the car. About a block away I saw a traffic cop writing me a ticket. So I ran over as fast as I could and talked to him. I knew I was under 1 hour, so I asked him what was up. He said I was parked illegally, but I pointed out the 1 hour parking sign and the white T's on the road for the parking spot. He said it was a Red Curb (which means no parking) and a bus stop. $300 fine he says, we argue a bit, finally he agrees to write it down to $70 and tells me to take pictures and go argue my case with the courts. Take a look at the picture and tell me what you think... I personally think it's scam by either the cop or the city...
* I saw some elephant seals basking in the down the California Coast. It's something I heard about but never experienced, and never would've thought I'd see. A beach full of seals, take a look at the pictures, even my best description can't match that.
* Joshua Tree is so otherworldly. I've had it described to me before but seeing it is just different. Even pictures have difficulty capturing the weirdness of it. The best description I've heard is "it's like a Giant's Sandbox, where the Giants stacked rocks on top of each other in the most bizarre way." That is just the way Joshua Tree is, you have some of the most precariously balanced boulders I've ever seen; someone must have placed it there.
* Yosemite was just packed. Patrick and I got tired of Joshua Tree, our hands were raw from climbing sandstone so we figured we'd give Yosemite granite a try on a Saturday night. Turned out it was a bad idea. Every campsite, every hotel, every motel within 20 miles was booked for the night, we were really lucky that we did find one that had vacancies, for $129 a night. Even with the crowds I'd highly advise everyone to visit this place; the valley is just beyond-BEYOND gorgeous.
* Patrick and I (yes Patrick, we BOTH made a decision) to climb Snake Dike (5.7R) on Half Dome on our 2nd day. It's a 8 pitch 800 ft climb. With a 3-4 hour approach, 6 miles and 2500 ft in elevation change, 3-4 hour climbing and a 3-4 descent at 8 miles. So at a minimum it was a 9 hour day, to probably an average a 12 hour day. For us, it was a 16 hour day. We started hiking from the car at about 7:45, 4.5 hours later we arrived at the base of the climb at 12:30 or so. This was after some strenuous bush whacking as we could not find the trail the first time. We had a party ahead of us just starting to climbing, some people who worked for Google in Ireland. Now, the day started sunny and beautiful, by the time we got to the base of the climb it was partly cloudy and windy. Half way up the climb it started hailing on us, about small bead size hail... Lucky for us, the R sections of the climb was 5.4 so I didn't have too much issue leading it, but it didn't make me happy. I was also underdressed for the hail storm... However, as the theme of the trip has been so far, close to disaster but in the end, everything works out. Cause in the end, we summited in clear blue skies. We descended via the cables- however the uprights weren't there, so it was a bit hairy. So, in summary in 16 hours we climbed Half Dome in a hail storm, Patrick led a pitch of it, scrambled 800 ft to the summit, and hiked 8 miles back to the valley. Over all a good day.. ;)
* The day after Half Dome Patrick and I took it easy and did the tourist drive. We were so sore, the old ladies were looking at us weird while hobbled up and down the stairs. So at night we dropped by the Ahwahnee Hotel to check the place out. The place, in my mind, is the ORIGINAL high end wilderness lodge. All those resort lodges you see in all those ski resorts are just wannabees. This hotel is just stunning- big fire places, uniquely and originally decorated rooms and even the faux candles added to the atmosphere rather then detracted from it. The dining room was full of people in dinner dresses, high heels and sport jackets- who brings high heels to Yosemite? The dining room itself reminded me of the vaulted dining rooms of old English castles; the whole place was lit by faux candles, which again made it even more tasteful. On top of that each room costs at least $439, Patrick and I paid $5 each for a campsite at Camp 4.
* So in the theme of close calls. We had 1-ish flights from San Francisco. It's 180 miles from Yosemite to San Francisco, so we figured 3 hour drive and we budgeted to be there by 10am, giving us 3 hours... First we started late, instead of 7am, it ran into 7:30. Then Yosemite had road construction, some of the roads had 35mph speed limits and then we hit traffic. We got to the car return place at noon, got to the terminal at 12:30. So we were both very worried about catching our flights, Patrick's was 1:10 and mine was 1:30. Lucky for Patrick, his flight was delayed to 1:30 and for me, there was no line at the check-in or at security, so we had more then enough time to catch our flights. So again with the theme of things, close calls but all is well in the end.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Random thoughts...
So I can't write much about the last week, suffice to say it was a blast! Though I do have a few thoughts to share...
* If any of you have flown over Quebec and then over Western Canada or the US, you'd notice something interesting about the farm land. In Quebec the land is divided into long rectangular tracts while land in the US and Western Canada is divided into mostly square tracts. There is a very good explanation for this, the French vs the English. You'd find the same difference in land if you were to fly from France to England. The French divided their land into long tracts extending away from the river, the English into square blocks. When the settlers came to the New World they each bought their own customs along and that is how it is. Haven't we learned something new today Boys and Girls?
* In the past week, I've had a lot of time to contemplate life and such. I have no new wisdoms to pass on but... I have some old ones to rehash. For some reason I thought this trip would change me almost immediately; I'd wake up one day and there be the new me in the mirror (and not that the old me was bad). Like everyone else, there are always a few things about yourself you'd like to change, it may be physical or psychological but there is always something. You always wake up with the sense of dissatisfaction with something, yet you can't always tell what it is. Well, just say that I've decided that whatever it is, it'll come. Life is a journey, an experience and all things come to those who wait. As an example, on one of my flights, I asked for a window seat in the back of the plane. The attendant nodded his head and said ok. He gives me my ticket and I head off. Upon reaching the gate I look at my ticket and it's 9D, an aisle seat at the front of the plane. Lucky for me, the plane was virtually empty and I just moved to an empty row and got what I wanted anyway.
* Was in Montreal for Game 5 between the Canadiens (the Habs) and the Fliers. Was at a sports bar when the game was going on. As we were in line to get in, all the riot police with all their gear were getting into place (the bar was 2 blocks from the actual game). The bar was loud and rowdy and so were the cops. We were sitting by the window and the Habs had just scored a goal and the cops walking by outside were smiling and waving, I guess they figured if the Habs won tonight, there be no riot. I have a grainy shot of the cops in gear, didn't bring my camera to be bar. By the time we got back to the house, it had started raining so didn't get a chance to go out and look for the riot... j/k... sort of.
Anyway folks, this blog has been bought to you by the letter C and the number 5. Have a good day!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Signs and Omens
I'm not superstitious, but in statistics there is a concept known as conditional probability, the probability of event B happening given that A has occurred.
* So what does it mean when your duffel bag rips while you are trying to pack it? In my case I just went to REI and bought another one. Good sign or bad?
* I got picked up by Super Shuttle from Minh's at 5am, guy took us around town and to National (DCA) and my flight was out of Dulles (IAD). Driver tells me my reservation is from DC to Reagon (which it is, I just checked, I must've selected the wrong airport). He says I'm in luck because he's headed out there anyway. At this point he's ambivalent on whether he can get me there on time, it's 0600 and I have a 0850 flight. We pick up two more people and head over to Dulles, whole time I'm worried about lines, closing of check-in and missing my first flight. He gets me there at 0650, I pay him the extra fee for Dulles and run into the airport. I find the Air Canada line empty and try to check in my bags. I get an error, saying something about itinerary change... I hand the agent my passport and he goes over some info and hands me back my ticket. I got put on another flight, I had got bumped to an earlier flight of 0830. Either the other one was cancelled/recheduled or something else happened. I had checked the status of my flight the night before and it showed no changes. The whole check-in and security thing took less than 20 minutes. Was at the gate with time to spare. Does this mean I'm to expect close calls but spectacular finishes? A lot of worrying for nothing?
* I was on my laptop at the gate and this girl beside me asked if they had wireless in the airport. I told her they had, she was worried cause she had limited batteries and didn't want to waste it checking for wireless if there wasn't any. I pointed out to her that there are random outlets around the terminal and she tells me she forgot her power plug. Earlier I had noticed she had an Macbook, so I offered her my power plug. She thanked me and took off looking for a power outlet, leaving her bags in her seat. I waited for a bit and then they started calling for boarding for my flight. I had assumed she was going to be on my flight because she had this cute French accent, so figured she'd be back before my flight left for Montreal. After a bit of fretting on my part, she comes running back and hands me my power plug and I board my plane as the last passenger (no she wasn't on my flight, wish we had more time to talk...). I guess another sign of close calls?
So ripped bags, wrong airports, changed flights and last minute power plugs, what does it all mean?
PS: I over heard an United employee at Dulles excitedly telling another one it was Aloha Friday, anyone know what that means? Do they all fly jump seat to Hawaii and party on Aloha Friday?
* So what does it mean when your duffel bag rips while you are trying to pack it? In my case I just went to REI and bought another one. Good sign or bad?
* I got picked up by Super Shuttle from Minh's at 5am, guy took us around town and to National (DCA) and my flight was out of Dulles (IAD). Driver tells me my reservation is from DC to Reagon (which it is, I just checked, I must've selected the wrong airport). He says I'm in luck because he's headed out there anyway. At this point he's ambivalent on whether he can get me there on time, it's 0600 and I have a 0850 flight. We pick up two more people and head over to Dulles, whole time I'm worried about lines, closing of check-in and missing my first flight. He gets me there at 0650, I pay him the extra fee for Dulles and run into the airport. I find the Air Canada line empty and try to check in my bags. I get an error, saying something about itinerary change... I hand the agent my passport and he goes over some info and hands me back my ticket. I got put on another flight, I had got bumped to an earlier flight of 0830. Either the other one was cancelled/recheduled or something else happened. I had checked the status of my flight the night before and it showed no changes. The whole check-in and security thing took less than 20 minutes. Was at the gate with time to spare. Does this mean I'm to expect close calls but spectacular finishes? A lot of worrying for nothing?
* I was on my laptop at the gate and this girl beside me asked if they had wireless in the airport. I told her they had, she was worried cause she had limited batteries and didn't want to waste it checking for wireless if there wasn't any. I pointed out to her that there are random outlets around the terminal and she tells me she forgot her power plug. Earlier I had noticed she had an Macbook, so I offered her my power plug. She thanked me and took off looking for a power outlet, leaving her bags in her seat. I waited for a bit and then they started calling for boarding for my flight. I had assumed she was going to be on my flight because she had this cute French accent, so figured she'd be back before my flight left for Montreal. After a bit of fretting on my part, she comes running back and hands me my power plug and I board my plane as the last passenger (no she wasn't on my flight, wish we had more time to talk...). I guess another sign of close calls?
So ripped bags, wrong airports, changed flights and last minute power plugs, what does it all mean?
PS: I over heard an United employee at Dulles excitedly telling another one it was Aloha Friday, anyone know what that means? Do they all fly jump seat to Hawaii and party on Aloha Friday?
Thursday, March 6, 2008
I Resigned My Job
Really crazy! But I did it today, handed in my resignation, last day will be April 23rd, 2008. I'm really nervous and in an unfamiliar situation. The closest thing I can equate it to is cliff diving. Before I quit it was like standing on the edge of the cliff looking down 30 ft to the water. Quitting is like jumping off... Now I'm mid-air falling towards the water. The joke around here is 30 ft is just long enough for you to change your mind. I know in the back of my mind that once I hit the water I'll feel ALIVE.
I guess right now, I'm waiting for the water. :)
Friday, August 3, 2007
Last Night in China (in Beijing)
Hey,
Arrived in Beijing from Lhasa tonight. So to finish off some thoughts...
* I had mentioned the dichotomy of China; I got another image (of which I don't have a picture..). An old lady in ragged wool clothes hunched over a cane while spinning a Tibetan prayer wheel, whose face is so wrinkled and sunburned that it can tell a thousand tales, standing in front of a designer store with a featureless mannequin in a perfectly pressed designer polo shirt and pants.
* I purchased some trinkets for people, come and get'em! Really funny was we were negotiating over 10c to 1 USD most of the time. We had walked into a store and the guy offered 10 Yuan and we didn't argue. Walked into another store and the guy asking price was 8 Yuan for the exact same thing. The owner even said he price was cheaper then the guy up the street, sorta felt bad in getting ripped off of 25 cents...
* So my last email was about the politics of Tibet.... This one is about the tourism in Tibet. WAY OVER CROWDED. Which is sorta our fault because we took the route most traveled and it was filled with Chinese, Korean, European and American tourists. I think next time I'm get a backpack and wonder.
* The tourism hasn't been a boon to everyone. We've seen beggars everywhere. Even had one occasion where a child (no more then 5 years old) grab my mom's leg and refused to let go until he got paid; our driver had to shoo him off. So instead of giving away money, we gave away food that we couldn't finish. This included stale fries one day old. These were fries from a fast food restaurant that our guide had picked up from Lhasa for the road because he didn't know what the conditions of the restaurants were gonna be. These were the same fries that I refused to eat because they were stale 4 hours later (and most of you know I'm not a very picky eater...). These same fries were given to a bunch of kids 'guarding' a toilet on the side of the road. They tore into it like manna from heaven.
* Bathrooms, which brings me to a very disgusting subject. On average a Tibetan toilet is worse then the dirtiest (including Nelson Rocks) pit toilet you've ever seen. Our guide joked that you don't need a GPS to find the toilet, just use your nose. It got to the point that the women in our party would rather 'sing a mountain song' ('chang san ge', take a leak in the wild) then use a proper toilet. This was the case all along the highway, we'd see cars and buses stopped for breaks; jokingly we called this Tibet's other natural wonder.
* First couple of days in Lhasa was over cast and rainy. Before we left it cleared up and boy was it beautiful. The stars shown so bright you could almost grab them. A full moon in the early morning was easily visible. Awesome, awesome place.
* So the flight from Lhasa to Beijing was interesting. There was a bunch of French Buddhists sitting front of us. I had heard them speaking French so I asked one of them if they were French (in French 'Vous etes Francais?'). This turned into a three way translation brawl for me. One of them spoke a bit of Chinese and some English, one spoke some English and the rest just French. My parents obviously spoke English and Chinese. The Chinese people around us only spoke Chinese. So I had to translate between English to French (my Parents), French to Chinese (with odd words in English, because I didn't know the Chinese word, which then had to be re-translated into Chinese), Chinese to French.. a very interesting 3-way brawl is what I would call it. I think we managed to understand each other. I also ended up on some one's home video cause one of the Frenchmen took out his camcorder and taped the whole exchanged, must have been interesting to watch.
* My last musing is the blinds in our hotel room. There is a rather large window between the bathroom and rest of the room. There are blinds on the window and it's not on the bathroom side, it's on the hotel room side... not sure about the thinking behind it, but who ever thought of it had either a very sick mind or a interesting sense of humor.
That's it for now... (probably for a while unless something interesting happens tomorrow...) cya!
jz
Arrived in Beijing from Lhasa tonight. So to finish off some thoughts...
* I had mentioned the dichotomy of China; I got another image (of which I don't have a picture..). An old lady in ragged wool clothes hunched over a cane while spinning a Tibetan prayer wheel, whose face is so wrinkled and sunburned that it can tell a thousand tales, standing in front of a designer store with a featureless mannequin in a perfectly pressed designer polo shirt and pants.
* I purchased some trinkets for people, come and get'em! Really funny was we were negotiating over 10c to 1 USD most of the time. We had walked into a store and the guy offered 10 Yuan and we didn't argue. Walked into another store and the guy asking price was 8 Yuan for the exact same thing. The owner even said he price was cheaper then the guy up the street, sorta felt bad in getting ripped off of 25 cents...
* So my last email was about the politics of Tibet.... This one is about the tourism in Tibet. WAY OVER CROWDED. Which is sorta our fault because we took the route most traveled and it was filled with Chinese, Korean, European and American tourists. I think next time I'm get a backpack and wonder.
* The tourism hasn't been a boon to everyone. We've seen beggars everywhere. Even had one occasion where a child (no more then 5 years old) grab my mom's leg and refused to let go until he got paid; our driver had to shoo him off. So instead of giving away money, we gave away food that we couldn't finish. This included stale fries one day old. These were fries from a fast food restaurant that our guide had picked up from Lhasa for the road because he didn't know what the conditions of the restaurants were gonna be. These were the same fries that I refused to eat because they were stale 4 hours later (and most of you know I'm not a very picky eater...). These same fries were given to a bunch of kids 'guarding' a toilet on the side of the road. They tore into it like manna from heaven.
* Bathrooms, which brings me to a very disgusting subject. On average a Tibetan toilet is worse then the dirtiest (including Nelson Rocks) pit toilet you've ever seen. Our guide joked that you don't need a GPS to find the toilet, just use your nose. It got to the point that the women in our party would rather 'sing a mountain song' ('chang san ge', take a leak in the wild) then use a proper toilet. This was the case all along the highway, we'd see cars and buses stopped for breaks; jokingly we called this Tibet's other natural wonder.
* First couple of days in Lhasa was over cast and rainy. Before we left it cleared up and boy was it beautiful. The stars shown so bright you could almost grab them. A full moon in the early morning was easily visible. Awesome, awesome place.
* So the flight from Lhasa to Beijing was interesting. There was a bunch of French Buddhists sitting front of us. I had heard them speaking French so I asked one of them if they were French (in French 'Vous etes Francais?'). This turned into a three way translation brawl for me. One of them spoke a bit of Chinese and some English, one spoke some English and the rest just French. My parents obviously spoke English and Chinese. The Chinese people around us only spoke Chinese. So I had to translate between English to French (my Parents), French to Chinese (with odd words in English, because I didn't know the Chinese word, which then had to be re-translated into Chinese), Chinese to French.. a very interesting 3-way brawl is what I would call it. I think we managed to understand each other. I also ended up on some one's home video cause one of the Frenchmen took out his camcorder and taped the whole exchanged, must have been interesting to watch.
* My last musing is the blinds in our hotel room. There is a rather large window between the bathroom and rest of the room. There are blinds on the window and it's not on the bathroom side, it's on the hotel room side... not sure about the thinking behind it, but who ever thought of it had either a very sick mind or a interesting sense of humor.
That's it for now... (probably for a while unless something interesting happens tomorrow...) cya!
jz
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Last Night in Lhasa
Hey All Y'All,
Been an awesome trip so far. They say that when you see the Potala Palace for the first time it's not something you forget easily and that is true for me. We had just arrived from Xining on the train and I caught sight of this majestic white and red building, all lit up floating above the city. Certainly a sight to remember.
Let see...
* We've had some interesting incidents. One was a tourist spot, we were getting off to take pictures at 4950 meters at some important junction of some important Asian river (you see how important it was...) What has happened is the locals have put up signs and brought their Yaks to take pictures with the tourist there. So if you happen to accidentally take a picture of their Yak or their sign they make you pay this ridiculous amount before they let you go. Our guide has had fights up here before... So he warned us about the situation and we were very careful not to do anything 'improper'. Yet somehow my dad got pushed around when we were about to leave, we had done nothing (which what pissed them off, in that they didn't get any money from us.). Our guide and driver had to get out of the bus to stop that crowd that was forming...
* Another one was they were doing bridge constructions and we had to get through . It was a really weird spot that we had to get our bus through. We managed to get it through without incident (in my opinion), but the local workman claimed that we had clipped their concrete and broke a piece off with the bus. I had already noticed it was broken AND there was not a single scratch mark they could point at on the bus that can be claimed to have come from the alleged 'clipping'. In the end we had to pay 50 Yuan ($6 USD) to get by.
* So this tourist spot is right beside the road and a genius of a bureaucrat didn't build any parking spaces for this tourist trap. So what buses do is park on half the road and shoulder leaving 1.5 lanes for two way traffic. At one point we are getting ready to leave, two buses meet in the middle of the parking space and neither had space to move and traffic starts building up behind each bus, not allowing either to back up. The only way out is for the line of parked cars to start moving. After much honking the parked drivers in front of us realize something is up and slowly work their way back to their cars. At this point some genius of a driver decides to cut the line and move up until he's blocking the line of parked cars. Now we have a real Chinese stand-off, two-way 1 lane road and there is traffic on both sides facing the wrong way... After much shouting, honking and screaming, they manage to get the driver to back up a little (and only a little) until he can get off the road and onto the grass on the wrong side. Our bus had about .5 ft of clearance between him and the other side of cars...
* The first couple of days in Tibet were sort of a disappointment. I had expected nomads on grassy plains tending their sheep and yaks with picturesque snow capped mountains in the background. Instead I found fields of greenhouses and farm land with grassy mountains. However this disappointment was short lived. I've seen some really breath taking sights, better then I could've imagined. This is truly the 'Roof of the World', the 'Last Natural Wonder', the 'Undiscovered Country'.
* We saw a Sky Burial. It's Tibetan tradition to 'bury' their dead by allowing the eagles and vultures (but in reality dogs) devour their dead. The thinking behind this is your soul has either moved onto nirvana or your next reincarnation and you don't need your corporeal body anymore (similar to "Dust to Dust, Ashes to Ashes"), so why let it go to waste. So we saw a Sky Burial from afar, mostly we saw a bunch of people standing around and Eagles/Vultures descending and circling...
* Sadly you can't talk about Tibet without talking about politics and the Chinese presence/occupation. I'll let the experts debate whether historically Tibet belongs to China or not. The reality on the ground is they (we) are here. That could be a good or bad thing. China is no benevolent occupier/ruler, but I can't say it's all bad. Historically Tibet is a feudal society where instead of lords in castles you have monasteries who controlled the land and the peasants were no different from European serfs. Monasteries would even wage wars/raids against other monasteries because of theological differences. As much as we like to think the Dalai Lama as the ruler of Tibet, he is no more then a weak king who needs the support of the monasteries (or local lords) to rule. As much as I would like to believe that the current Dalai Lama could've changed this feudal system, I don't think that have been possible. (BTW, the Potala Palace, where the Dalai Lamas ruled from, is like a fortress on a hill, no different from any European castle I've seen...) The only enlightened dictatorship I know of in Asia is in Bhutan and how many people even know where that is? In that sense the Chinese did liberate Tibet. BTW, that is the politically correct term here, even our Tibetan guide uses it, the Chinese is 'Jie Fan', 'to liberate'. On the other hand, Chinese liberation bought along the Cultural Revolution, and Tibet was not spared the destruction of history. They say China lost more history in those short years of Maoist fanaticism then it did it's 4000 years of history. China also bought modernization and I would argue that would have been inevitable unless again if you were Bhutan. I would let history judge whether modernization is a good thing or not. I would also let history judge where the Chinese presence/occupation is a good thing or not.
Anyway, I have a few more anecdotes to pass along but it's really getting late. Be in Beijing tomorrow and will write more...
jz
PS: No, I didn't proof read this note and I'm sure there are tons of typos and stuff...
Been an awesome trip so far. They say that when you see the Potala Palace for the first time it's not something you forget easily and that is true for me. We had just arrived from Xining on the train and I caught sight of this majestic white and red building, all lit up floating above the city. Certainly a sight to remember.
Let see...
* We've had some interesting incidents. One was a tourist spot, we were getting off to take pictures at 4950 meters at some important junction of some important Asian river (you see how important it was...) What has happened is the locals have put up signs and brought their Yaks to take pictures with the tourist there. So if you happen to accidentally take a picture of their Yak or their sign they make you pay this ridiculous amount before they let you go. Our guide has had fights up here before... So he warned us about the situation and we were very careful not to do anything 'improper'. Yet somehow my dad got pushed around when we were about to leave, we had done nothing (which what pissed them off, in that they didn't get any money from us.). Our guide and driver had to get out of the bus to stop that crowd that was forming...
* Another one was they were doing bridge constructions and we had to get through . It was a really weird spot that we had to get our bus through. We managed to get it through without incident (in my opinion), but the local workman claimed that we had clipped their concrete and broke a piece off with the bus. I had already noticed it was broken AND there was not a single scratch mark they could point at on the bus that can be claimed to have come from the alleged 'clipping'. In the end we had to pay 50 Yuan ($6 USD) to get by.
* So this tourist spot is right beside the road and a genius of a bureaucrat didn't build any parking spaces for this tourist trap. So what buses do is park on half the road and shoulder leaving 1.5 lanes for two way traffic. At one point we are getting ready to leave, two buses meet in the middle of the parking space and neither had space to move and traffic starts building up behind each bus, not allowing either to back up. The only way out is for the line of parked cars to start moving. After much honking the parked drivers in front of us realize something is up and slowly work their way back to their cars. At this point some genius of a driver decides to cut the line and move up until he's blocking the line of parked cars. Now we have a real Chinese stand-off, two-way 1 lane road and there is traffic on both sides facing the wrong way... After much shouting, honking and screaming, they manage to get the driver to back up a little (and only a little) until he can get off the road and onto the grass on the wrong side. Our bus had about .5 ft of clearance between him and the other side of cars...
* The first couple of days in Tibet were sort of a disappointment. I had expected nomads on grassy plains tending their sheep and yaks with picturesque snow capped mountains in the background. Instead I found fields of greenhouses and farm land with grassy mountains. However this disappointment was short lived. I've seen some really breath taking sights, better then I could've imagined. This is truly the 'Roof of the World', the 'Last Natural Wonder', the 'Undiscovered Country'.
* We saw a Sky Burial. It's Tibetan tradition to 'bury' their dead by allowing the eagles and vultures (but in reality dogs) devour their dead. The thinking behind this is your soul has either moved onto nirvana or your next reincarnation and you don't need your corporeal body anymore (similar to "Dust to Dust, Ashes to Ashes"), so why let it go to waste. So we saw a Sky Burial from afar, mostly we saw a bunch of people standing around and Eagles/Vultures descending and circling...
* Sadly you can't talk about Tibet without talking about politics and the Chinese presence/occupation. I'll let the experts debate whether historically Tibet belongs to China or not. The reality on the ground is they (we) are here. That could be a good or bad thing. China is no benevolent occupier/ruler, but I can't say it's all bad. Historically Tibet is a feudal society where instead of lords in castles you have monasteries who controlled the land and the peasants were no different from European serfs. Monasteries would even wage wars/raids against other monasteries because of theological differences. As much as we like to think the Dalai Lama as the ruler of Tibet, he is no more then a weak king who needs the support of the monasteries (or local lords) to rule. As much as I would like to believe that the current Dalai Lama could've changed this feudal system, I don't think that have been possible. (BTW, the Potala Palace, where the Dalai Lamas ruled from, is like a fortress on a hill, no different from any European castle I've seen...) The only enlightened dictatorship I know of in Asia is in Bhutan and how many people even know where that is? In that sense the Chinese did liberate Tibet. BTW, that is the politically correct term here, even our Tibetan guide uses it, the Chinese is 'Jie Fan', 'to liberate'. On the other hand, Chinese liberation bought along the Cultural Revolution, and Tibet was not spared the destruction of history. They say China lost more history in those short years of Maoist fanaticism then it did it's 4000 years of history. China also bought modernization and I would argue that would have been inevitable unless again if you were Bhutan. I would let history judge whether modernization is a good thing or not. I would also let history judge where the Chinese presence/occupation is a good thing or not.
Anyway, I have a few more anecdotes to pass along but it's really getting late. Be in Beijing tomorrow and will write more...
jz
PS: No, I didn't proof read this note and I'm sure there are tons of typos and stuff...
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