Yup. I'm the Booby.

I really hope that Yan Qing will be good. I really, really do. I know that your shouldn't judge something on the first impression, but, ooo-ooo-wee!

Okay, I should just start from the beginning.

So, I was given the Yan Qing teaching assignment. I had some reservations - was warned about the extra time it would take to do the classes and the low language level of the students. But I was pretty okay with it as long as I would be compensated for the extra time it would take to teach those classes - it takes a little over an hour to get out to the school and then there is the ride back. So, although I am only teaching 4 hours the whole ordeal takes the entire day.

I had some questions about all of this, so I went to our waiban. I admit, I was still suspicious about the whole 10 vs 12 hours of agreed to contracted hours, but wanted to know about the teaching gig. So, after a couple of rounds of time vs money compensation she tried the "I'll just butter you up" strategy and was told that they select a very special teacher to go out to teach these kids who may be from the countryside and were not able to have as good as an education as some of the other kids (thus they scored lower on their entrance exams).

So, with not everything smoothed over, I leave with the general feeling of being lied to again.

The other night Matt and I met one of the former English teachers at the University. We all went to Mr. Pizza. Frank, who is an old friend of Adam's (our neighbor). I told him that I had the Yan Qing thing. His response? "Oh, so you got stuck with Yan Qing, huh?" followed by and a little laughing. Great.

So, Monday. THE day. I was told that the bus to Yan Qing will leave the school at 7:30 AM and that I should try to be a little early. So, I drag my groggy ass out of bed really early for me and make it out to the bus meeting place under a huge statue of Mao by 7:15 AM. Anyone there? Nope. 7:30 AM? Nope. 7:45 AM? Nope. I worry that I missed the bus or that they changed the time and didn't tell me. So I called the scheduling office. They sent someone down to hang with me and Mao. At 8:00 AM some people start to show up. I asked them what time the bus was to leave, they all said 8:15 AM. No one knew of the 7:30 AM time that I was informed of. Gee, thanks Gloria. I wouldn't have been nearly as bitter if I would have been able to get that extra precious hour of sleep.

So, now the ride out to Yan Qing. The ride was quite nice. I was able to see some of the Great Wall on the way and the hills/mountains were quite nice. Blue sky too - bonus! Right as we got to an interesting section of the wall the lady in front of me whisked down the curtain and bopped me in the head. I tried to pull it up just a little so I could see out. No dice. Stare of ice from that lady. So, I was forced to sneak peaks out at the scenery from two windows up when the wind would blow the curtain out a little bit. What is up with the mobile window treatment Nazis?

So, we arrived at the school and I was given the key to my "office". It was actually better than I had pictured. It is basically a little hotel room. I have 2 beds, 2 desks a wardrobe and my own bathroom. I didn't really have time to relax because I had to run off to class. I got lost. No one really knew where I was supposed to go. So I just wandered around the teaching buildings for about 10 minutes before a student found me and asked if I was the Chinese-looking foreigner. She said to follow her and I made it to my class just as the bell rang.

The students will hopefully be better than the first impression I have of them. From the way things sound, half of them didn't really want to work very hard in high school, so they placed low on the university lists and could not get into one of the top universities in Beijing. The other half are from the countryside and didn't have access to some of the educational advantages that their other classmates had and they are there to work, but their English level is pretty poor as usually they didn't really have an actual English teacher, just a Chinese teacher trying to teach them about English. I have two classes. One is for English teaching majors the other for Commercial English majors. I have to tell ya, I truly believe that my Senior 1 students at Guyuan had better English overall. Shoot, for that matter, my Juniors had better English. Many of these university students could not answer questions my 11 year olds could by the end of the year.

The class is supposed to be lecture style. Two L O N G hours of lecture. Four in total. I don't want to talk that long and being that their English level is so low, I don't think that they would be able to understand (nor sit through)what I am talking about the majority of the time. So, I think that will be the first change I make, more activities and less teacher talking time. But the students, oh I don't know. I just hope that my impression of them is incorrect.

For lunch I went to a restaurant. Went being the word to focus on. Note that I didn't say "eat". We caught a bicycle thing out to a restaurant on the other side of town (not a rickshaw dealy, but a bike with a padded skid attached to the back which people sit on). By the time we got out there and the food came, I had to go back for my afternoon class. I got about 3 minutes to shovel some potatoes in my feed hole before catching the bike thing back to campus.

Back at campus had some more difficulty finding my classes - nothing is labeled which makes it difficult for me as all of the buildings kinda look the same and all of the classrooms really look similar. So, lost laowai again.

So, finally, I get to go home! Hooray!

I find the car that is going back and hop in and we head back to Beijing. We get back about at 4:30 PM. A whole day wasted for four hours of teaching and I haven't heard what the "fair compensation" is yet from the people who were supposed to get right back to me.

Crap.

I'm tired.

Ugh.

That is the way I am feeling right now.

It is 6:30 as I begin this post and I will go jump a bus to my school in a little bit.

I'm going out to teach at Yan Qing. The booby prize.

I'll tell you more about it when I get home.

...and there I go!

I start teaching on Tuesday. Initially when we arrived, we were told that we wouldn't start teaching until the 11th. But people like to lie or to give an answer without knowing if it is actually true or not. At least it is a short term class (only will meet 4 times). Even though, it is a short term class, I don't feel mentally prepared for it yet - that extra week seems to make a big difference in mental preparation for launching the school year.

Needless to say,

I

AM

NOT

READY.

Hanized Holy Lake

Watch the video

So, this is from Tibet - we went to the summer palace for the big DL and they had a framed picture of the Potala. Across from the Potala was a beautiful lake and park. We were told that the holy lake has since been filled in and now a large Chinese monument and public square is standing where the lake had once been. A bit of the lake is still there, now just a little pond.

We were walking down by the Potala at night to get some night pictures of the place, when we saw all of the blue glow coming down from the lake. I though that it was horrible looking - all of those tacky blue lights framing what is left of the holy lake. Then I noticed the swirling orange disks and wanted to get closer. "Are those swastikas spinning around?" We got closer and to my horror, they were bright orange swastikas spinning in one direction and then slowing down to start spinning around in the other direction. Ugh.

The Potala is a kind of a transition point from the east and west side of the downtown area in Lhasa. The east side has more of a Tibetan feel and as you walk west you begin to see more and more colored rope lights, neon, tacky light fixtures and plastic palm trees. Anyhow, I can finally get back into my email in less than 20 minutes, so I probably shouldn't push my luck with adding more opinion to this post.

Belgium

Sorry that I haven't posted in a little while. We have been exploring the big, bad Beijing. When we first arrived we had nice blue skies, but we have also got to experience the oppressive pollution. Yeah, I think I will have to go on the inhaler come winter - whoohoo Albuterol!

We have been trying to clean up and out the VIA apartment. It has been in use for about 20 years or so. Needless to say a good purge is in order - the closet has been primed for an full scale excavation.

We have met most of the other foreign teachers we will be working with - so far they are all nice, blah, blah, blah good and stuff. I will start teaching a short term class on Tuesday. Matt and I need to work out some of the details of our contract - there are a couple of inconsistencies between our schedule and what we thought we agreed to. Anyhow, it should be fine as long as we get paid the correct amount for any hours over our contracted teaching hours.

We have done a little sight seeing as well with Naree (VIA volunteer), Adam (former reporter from the States) and Joe (retired teacher from Guam). There is so much to see around here - we hit the Forbidden City and the big T Square a couple of days ago. What else have we been up to? I dunno. Not a whole lot. Trying to get familiar with our little part of the city, try out the buses and metro, etc. We can get pretty decent Mexican food, and an Indonesian restaurant was discovered as well. We also joined a gym. After one year of no physical exercise, our first visit was quite a humbling one. I think I was sore for the next four days. So, I think the next big sight I want to go visit will be to see Mao up close. Yup. Want see that mug as close as I can. I bet it is a little creepy.

Beijing is huge! So much different from Guyuan, not necessarily good or bad just really, really different. Hopefully we will be able to find some side projects to do here and I would like to try to find someone to give me some paper cutting tips and find out where to buy the professional tools I have been hearing about. Anyhow, we read somewhere that the size of the municipality of Beijing is about the size of Belgium! Damn!

I miss my kids. They have been writing me by email and I just got a nice letter. It will be hard to not to be able to see them everyday, I really had fun with so many of them. But then again, they could really be little shits when they wanted to!

Anyhow, I'll try to be better about updating once things settle down a little bit. I have some more pictures up on my flickr site and am working on another video post that I'll get up in a few days - it's "interesting" and a little bit sad. Oh, I'll also send out my address in a mass email, if you don't get it and want it, let me know or if you can't read the Chinese characters, let me know. Even though we have access to a lot of western goodies now, that doesn't mean we can afford them! So all care packages are still more than welcome!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

So, Beijing! Whew!

It is nice to be able to set down and have an home once again rather than strapping on my pack and riding around on the rails like a hobo. But, there is something to be said about the hobo lifestyle. But, we are officially homeless no more!

Beijing. Um. Doesn't suck as much as I thought it would. It is actually fairly clean and...blue skies! We can actually see some stars at night too. It is big though, but I expected that at least. Big, big, Beijing. I will be sending out a mass email soon with address and other contact information when I get around to it. Also, if you Skype, send me your user infomation and we can chat for free! If you don't have Skype, why not? Seriously. Go get it! I'll wait...don't just sit there staring at me, go, it's free - Skype click here!

Alright, what else...the train ride up here was fairly uneventful, cabin mates were pretty well behaved though. China turned out the lights around 11:00 PM and then promptly woke me up before 6 AM with shrill flute music. I was on the top bunk again, but no one sat on me, so I was pretty happy about that. I think I can officially give western food a little rest, I think over the past week I have consumed about 2 pounds of cheese. Not kidding and that is probably a conservative estimate.

We met with our new waiban, Chen, and she seems like she will be good to work with. Tomorrow we meet the other VIA volunteer at the train station and then head on down to the friendly PSB office for processing. I guess that there is another foreigner coming with us, so we will get to meet him as well. I still don't know what I will be teaching, but I will only have 10 classroom hours this year and the rest of my hours will be at Huiling - an organization that works with the mentally handicapped.

So, what else have we been doing? Not a whole lot. We have been exploring a little bit, picking up things for our apartment, planning a big purge of things that are junking up the place, etc. The apartment is a lot smaller than in Guyuan, but still nice. It has been the residence for many VIA vols over the years, so there is quite an excavation waiting for us in the closet.

I think I many poke my nose into the Olympic planning headquarters one of these days - we saw an ad on CCTV 9 (the international station) which said that they were looking for English speakers and foreign volunteers to help with Olympic stuff. Don't know what I would be doing, but could be interesting.

I never thought that I would be so excited to see the golden arches of McDonald's, but out here, it is like the best thing in the world. There is a little area we have been walking to where we pass a McDonalds, Subway, KFC and a Pizza Hut on the way to the subway station to go to the Walmart. International corporations are cool. Sometimes I am so happy about being able to get a sandwich, I want to cry. The Walmart is huge! Three floors with full grocery store - read, "imported cheese" - it is too expensive for a routine sort of thing, but I have a feeling that that gouda wheel will get a little visit from me come October!

Two pairs of chopsticks, and empty tea bottle and fish bones

Hello -

Matt and I are killing some more time at an Internet cafe in Nanjing. Our train doesn't leave until 10:30 tonight. Our time in Nanjing has been great! We got to eat some really good food, spent some quality time with the dumpling master and some even better quality time with a block of cheese - Gouda, very good.

We got to meet all of the new volunteers - they are a fun group and I am glad that I was able to meet them all before conference in the winter. Also, really glad to see a couple of the old vols posted here because Dec./Jan. is a long ways away! I am really happy to meet the vol going to Guyuan, besides the lack of cheese there, I think that he will do smashingly! Hopefully we will be able to work out a visit to the school when Michelle, our Program Director, goes out there. I would love to see my kids again and see how the new vol. is doing there.

Eeew, someone just hocked one up onto the floor.

Anyhow, a man just came in and kicked over the trash can right next to me, it wasn't very full, but now there are 2 pairs of chopsticks, an empty tea bottle and some fish bones next to me. Like right next to me. He didn't even think twice about not picking up the trash can of trash that is now littered on the floor. Like a lot else here, it is someone else's responsibility - probably why the cities are so dirty and scummy - always someone else's responsibility.

Anyhow, I am excited about going to the big city, but feel a little like a country bumpkin. Matt and I find ourselves staring and pointing at the foreigners as much as the locals do. I am extremely embarrassed by how much I did stare at a black guy, but I haven't seen a real life black person in about a year! I am such a dork - going back to the States will be interesting....

The fish bone thing still has a tail :P

I hate fish.

Hopefully teaching university students will go okay. I think I will be irritating to them as I am just coming out of Jr. and Sr. middle school. I am just worried about filling the time as 1.5 hours seems like an awful long time, especially if a lesson is going badly. Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine. Since I am such a huge spaz in class, it is at least entertaining for the students if nothing else.

Anyhow, we got the keys to our next home, so not homeless anymore and we will get to our new home for the next year sometime tomorrow morning.

Goodbye to blue skies and starry nights for the next year!

Later!

PS - I have been having trouble with all of my email accounts. Probably just paranoia, but I seem to have a "bug" and I can't always access either account regularly (took 20 min to open my email last time and them couldn't open any messages). Just so you know, if you don't hear from me right away. My big brother is always looking out for me, right?

Always Wet

Hello from Nanjing!

Matt and I are making our way to our new home, but first, Nanjing. We wanted to meet the new volunteers and they all seem pretty cool, I think that in general this year's new vols are a little older than last year.

Not much going on though. We are always wet. Sweat - yes. Nanjing in a word is HOT. Also there has been fairly frequent downpours. So, soaking wet because of rain too. Last year it was pretty much the same. Sweat wet and weather wet. I remember wading knee deep (at times) through the streets to get to the bowling alley.

Matt and I made our very necessary McDonald's run - there is something about Mickey-D's that just tastes a whole lot better in China. Also, as I have said before, it is also a very needed intestinal cleanse for us when we are sick - something about the burgers that the intestinal parasites just don't like.

We also were able to make a very needed visit to the master. Yup, we went to see the Dumpling Master. I think that he remembered Matt. Both the dumplings and the potstickers were better than we remembered them being. But the big news is that we went to Skyways Bakery and Deli. DELI! Real homemade breads, that are good and not oddly sweet, real meat - not scary meat from a stick that never seems to expire. Sooooo good! I have been waiting for a good sandwich like that for about a year.

Also, one of our fellow vols brought us some goodies from America - THANK YOU!!! All of the treats will find a special home - in our gastro-intestinal tracts. Mexican Hot Chocolate - I can't wait (thanks again Anjali).

We will be leaving for Beijing on Saturday! Until then!

Welcoming in the Year of the Dog

SHANGHAI, Aug. 9 — It was late last month, the boy said, his voice still tinged with emotion, when he and his father were forced to march their two German shepherds to a public square and hang them from a tree.

The boy, Xia Shaoli, was not alone in his pain. Officials in Mouding County in southwestern Yunnan Province had ordered the mass extermination of dogs, pets as well as strays, after three people died in a rabies outbreak. And as a crowd gathered around a large tree in the village of Xiajiashan, owners complied one after another with commands to string their dogs up.

According to official figures, 54,429 dogs were killed during the Yunnan campaign. Reports in the Chinese news media say that some people out walking their dogs had the animals seized by gangs of vigilantes, who clubbed the dogs to death on the spot.

The events in Yunnan have been quickly followed by rabies scares in other parts of China. On Wednesday, the Chinese news media reported the killings of 280 dogs in Wuxi, a city near Shanghai, and 13 in the city of Fuzhou in southern Fujian Province.

Earlier this week, a cluster of 16 villages in the southwestern part of Shandong Province declared a rabies alert, and county officials have drafted a dog extermination plan that would call for the killing of any dog found within a three-mile radius of any known rabies case.

There are half a million dogs in the city of Jining, which encompasses the 16 villages, the official New China News Agency says. Officials there said their extermination plan was scheduled to begin later this month. There have also been reports of smaller extermination schemes in other parts of the country, notably in Sichuan Province.

As remarkable as the killings themselves, however, has been the response. With its rising prosperity, China is developing a pet-owning culture, with dogs standing out as a particular favorite. As word of the killings has spread here, pet owners have begun to mobilize — speaking out online and circulating petitions — to try to stop the killings.

In fact, discussion of the issue has surpassed the bounds of a simple conversation about pets’ rights, with many commentators sharply questioning a system that could order the mass extermination of dogs, whether or not they are licensed and vaccinated. The reaction of groups and individuals, often through the Internet, also provides a striking illustration of the emergence of true public opinion in China, unmediated by the official press or censors.

“This is just another stupid decision by several foolish officials taken in a small room, totally unreflective of the people’s will,” said a comment on Mop, a current affairs forum.

Some drew comparisons with China’s human rights situation. “We don’t have human rights, let alone dog rights,” wrote a commentator going by the name of Kui Kui Xiang Ri, on the Tianya forum. “I’ve seen too much live abuse, let alone abuse of dogs. Anyway, it’s the local emperors who have their say, and we ordinary folks are not much different from dogs in their eyes.”

Chinese humane societies have announced plans to file lawsuits against local governments that mount extermination campaigns. “This kind of thing is just too terrible, too inhumane,” said Huang Juan, a leader of the Abandoned Pets Assistance Center, in Wuhan. “They did it without any real reason, since many of these dogs are vaccinated and cannot spread rabies. But how can you speak reason with these people?”

Another group, the China Small Animal Protection Association, said it would sue. “We are meeting with lawyers the day after tomorrow, and will go to court and bring charges against two local governments,” said Lu Di, the group’s director. “I will not just try to persuade, warn or criticize them — it’s too late for that. We will sue them to make them understand that this is not merely a moral issue, but a crime.”

On Wednesday, the Humane Society of the United States offered $100,000 to China to establish a program to control rabies in Jining, The Associated Press reported.

More broadly, others pointed out that the extermination campaigns contradict the guiding ideology of China’s current leaders, who constantly invoke the need to build a “harmonious society.”

Although the extermination programs are being widely denounced here, there is no doubting that rabies remains a severe problem in China. Nationwide, 961 people died of the disease in the first six months of the year, and last year, 2,545 people died. By contrast, rabies deaths in most Western countries are extremely rare.

Experts say the persistence of the disease reflects the breakdown of the rural health care system, once one of the proudest achievements of Chinese Communism. Many poor rural provinces view canine rabies vaccinations as a costly burden. Meanwhile, an oral vaccine, which is far easier to administer, is not imported, partly because of its cost.

“Many farmers are reluctant to get shots for their dogs, because it’s not always free, whereas the veterinary system at the township level has become very inadequate,” said Luo Tingrong, a rabies expert at Guangxi University. “There isn’t much investment into the system.”

China Plans a Rare-Animal Hunt

BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Reuters) — China plans to auction licenses to foreigners to hunt wild animals, including rare species, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

The government will auction the licenses based on the numbers in each category of animal, ranging from a starting price of $200 for a wolf, the only predator on the list, to as much as $40,000 for a yak, The Beijing Youth Daily said. There are believed to be fewer than 10,000 mature wild yak in the world.

The newspaper said the auction, on Sunday in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, would be a first for China.

For the picture and article click here

Cow Smarts

Have to hand it to yaks - not only have we gotten some excellent butter and cheese products here in Tibet, but the animal is surprisingly nimble. We have seen yaks in places that just seem impossible to get to, especially for an animal its size.

Also, on our way back from Everest, I saw 2 cows helping each other get a tasty snack. One cow was holding a sapling tree down so the other could eat off of the top, while the other cow was doing the same.

Hmmm...

Shangri-la Detours and Sights

So, now I am actually back in Lhasa, but would like to tell you all about our road trip out to the Everest Base Camp and back. On the road Internet cafes were not as available, so I will have to play catch-up.

Last Friday, we met up with two fellow travelers (Lis and Ryan, who we originally met in Xining) and all went on a road trip together. We decided to save some money and go for the old 1980's Japanese built tank of a 4x4 vehicle. It had nice, roomy seats, a huge back end for packs and a cheery driver. Perfect!

We left Lhasa in the morning - probably not exactly on time, but close enough by Chinese standards. Our first stop? The exotic gas station. Wooooo! We pull into the gas station and figured out that you can fill the gas tank just a little bit more by rocking the car back and forth. So, after that exciting stop, we were ready to roll - almost. Our car just wouldn't really start. It wouldn't turn over at all. So, he threw open the hood and after about 20 minutes we hit the road. First stop, Yamdrok-tso (Yamdrok Lake).

It was a little grey out and kinda misty, but we were all thinking, "hey the road is really nice, why do we need the 4x4?" Oh, we were about to find out! Before the lake, we got to go through the first check point. Pretty low key. The driver had to pull over and the officer looked at some of the driver's paperwork and then waved us through.

We wound up pulling over shortly after at a scenic outlook. There, we met up with another tour group with a couple of Japanese tourists who we had met in Xining, a white woman who spoke Japanese and another Japanese women. We would wind up spending quite a bit of "rest time" with them on our trip the first day as our car was quite stubborn about starting up, like, all of the time. So, after the scenic spot, and waiting for the two drivers to start up our car, we were off to see the lake.

The lake, quite far from spectacular. It was quite grey out and was pretty cold and rainy. There were quite a few of people selling things and trying to get you to take a picture on their yak or next to their dogs or whatever. We had a little look around, but there wasn't too much to see and the clouds were pretty low and thick. So, we got back into the car and waited to get it started up before continuing on our journey.

It was starting to clear a little in spurts. The landscape was absolutely stunning! I am not the biggest scenery watcher, but I was completely mesmerized by the beauty of the land. Truly, there are no words to really describe just how amazingly beautiful it is out here. Both of us took a gazillion (okay, maybe a few less) pictures, but could have taken much more. Everything was beautiful and photo worthy - I think that I have at least a couple thousand images in my head that will serve me well in my lifetime. I only wish that I had bigger eyes to take in more of my surroundings. The hundreds of pictures we did take just don't do the area justice.

Our driver asked us if it would be okay to stop by the Sakya Monastery now rather than on the last day, we all agreed and we headed off to the monastery in Gyantse. OHMYGOD! The road was not so much a road as an adventure ride. I don't think my bottom was in contact with my seat the majority of the time we were on the "road". Every now and then I would catch the driver's eye in the mirror and he would start smiling as he revved up for another launching bump in the road. Honestly, he was one of the best drivers I have ever seen! Really impressive with all of the road obstacles we encountered along the way. Anyhow, next was onto the Gyantse Kunbum!

The site was interesting - a chorten packed with little rooms filled with wall murals and, yes, course, big plaster statues. Floor after floor of these little rooms that I even had to bend over to get into. Matt and I were really winded because of the high altitude, so went really slow around all of the rooms. A couple of time, Matt got the wind scared out of him by a couple of pigeons. Pigeons. From the chorten we had a great view of the Gyantse dzong (fort). After shaking off some children aggressively asking for money, we all got in the car and headed off to Shigatse.

After a good night's rest, we all went to the Tashilhunpo Monastery. It was an interesting place to go around, I saw a lot of monks counting money during my time there. This monastery is the seat of the Panchen Lama (scholar Lama) lineage and there is some history between the following parties: The seat of the Panchen Lama, the Dali Lama and the PRC (go figure). Three guesses as to which party was trying to encourage a divide between the other two parties. So, the big rock stars of this monastery are Panchen Lamas 9 (PL with moustache), 10 (the big guy) and 11 (the disputed Chinese-sponsored PL who was a young boy). There was a little quasi-museum with a bunch of old pictures showing how well the 10th PL got along with Mao and other leaders of the PRC.

Next, our driver asked us if we would like to go to Sakya now rather than on the way back. We all agreed, so we set off for the Sakya Monastery. Our driver got a part for the car so we didn't break down as much the second day. One of the obstacles we ran into heading to Sakya was that for whatever reason, we could not always drive on the road. So he would have to pull off the road and maneuver the "detour" route. The "detour" we ran into this time was a tunnel under a bridge. Our car with luggage rack was not going to fit through. We tried a couple of times, but no go. So, Matt, our driver and the Japanese tour group driver took off the rack and carried it over to the other side. Once through, the next task was attaching the roof rack back onto the car. This became quite the spectacle.

Anyhow, the Sakya Monastery was cool! I really liked it for whatever reason. When we entered, it was really low key, nice. We went to one of the buildings to find dozens of monks sitting in the room chanting. Very cool. It was grey out, so the only light was from the butter lamps around the room. I don't know, I didn't really talk to any of the monks, but they just seemed to be really warm and friendly there. We enjoyed looking around the monastery and came across a very curious room - the chapel was of people being tortured and had limbs hanging from the ceiling and a lot of painted on blood. Right next to that chapel was a little room filled with stuffed animals - not like, taxidermy, think more on the plush side. Weird. Anyhow, we saw our driver wandering around the courtyard and figured that he was looking for us. So, we headed back to the car and continued on to Shegar.

In Shegar we didn't really do anything. We grabbed a bite at a not so great Sichuan restaurant and hit the sack. My sack had a huge crater in the middle, so I didn't sleep too well - kind of like trying to go to sleep in a belly-flop position. The next day many of us were not feeling very well from the proven not so great Sichuan food from next door. The first thing we did was to go get our permits for Everest Base Camp.

Then more driving - luckily, I was the best off, as I had only consumed my good ol' standby of potatoes the night before. So, on the way to the Base Camp we wound up taking a break on to of a mountain. There were a lot of kids trying to sell you stuff from the moment the car rolled up. A couple of little girls latched onto me. I told them that I wasn't interested and gave them a little side hug. They really responded to that. They no longer were really interested in selling me something, but, rather, getting more hugs. They were so cute! Eventually Matt did buy some prayer flags from one of them, she got so excited to get the 5 yuan! She just beamed and called out "thank you" very brightly. When it was time for us to leave, I was approached by an older man who asked me to buy a rock. I looked him in the eye and politely said that I didn't want it and smiled. He smiled and thanked me for being so kind. He told me in English that many people aren't very kind to him and don't bother to smile even if they aren't interested in buying anything, instead they act very angry. He also thanked me for loving the children because they are often treated not very kindly. Finally, time to get into the truck, all of the little girls I was playing with came over to the car and the one we bought the flags from called me her good friend - they all gave me hugs and waved as we drove off.

The last stop before the base camp was for lunch in a small town. We again had Sichuan food - really good potatoes! In our restaurant was a huge poster with Western-ish looking food - we have seen this same poster in many restaurants around the country. I don't know what it is about this particular poster, but many Chinese restaurants seem to have it.

Anyhow, now, finally, Everest Base Camp!

The road is really bumpy and we go through a nature preserve. It was a little misty out, but still beautiful. We get about 400 meters from the base camp drop off when - flat tire. We all get out, driver laughs a little (what else can you do?) and he changes that flat in about 5 minutes! So, we roll in and head up to the camp. Part way up I don't know exactly what I did - I think I was trying to equalize my ears and got a little dizzy, slid in a weird way and wound up twisting my ankle. Eventually, I caught a horse cart for the rest of the way up.

At camp, we found a really nice tent. Really nice, more like a semi-mobile hotel. They had nice, clean and comfortable benches/beds and a stove in the center of the room. We threw down our packs and went out to explore the camp a little bit. Here we ran into some more of the same travelers we had seen during various parts of our travels. We were all pretty tired. So we crashed. Me a little later than the others. At one point, while I was writing, the Tibetan man who was in charge of his tent, came over to cover Lis' eyes with the blanket. The way he was doing it or something - I don't know why, but he and I found what he was doing to be incredible hilarious! We couldn't stop laughing. When he finished he gave me a good pat on the back (both still laughing) and filled my tea cup.

The next morning, Matt and I were pretty sleepy - we had a hard time sleeping. I blame his long legs. We went out to see if Everest was going to make an appearance this morning. Nope. Cloud cover. So, we waited. and waited. and waited. Matt went to the top of an outlook and I went past the barrier (hey, I look Chinese - who's going to stop me?). The clouds started to lift and clear out and we were suddenly standing in full view of Mt. Everest. Breathtaking! Eventually, we went over to the base camp sign to take some pictures (comrade and other) and we wound up running into our driver.

After a bit, we caught a horse cart back down, only to run into our driver again and started the journey home. We decided to drive back to Shigatse. Our drive back was really quite an experience! We really got to see what our 20+ year old car was made of! The first real challenge (besides starting up on a regular basis) was one of the river detours we had to take. We don't know why we had to to take it as the road looked just fine and no one was working on it at the time. Maybe the road was just too new to drive on yet or something. Anyhow, so we off-roaded it. In a riverbed. It was fun. There was a bit of a traffic jam so our driver tried to go around it and promptly became stuck - was it the mud? the rocks? We didn't know, but we were stuck. Matt and Ryan got out of the car and started to push without much luck. Finally the driver told them to throw rocks under the tires while he floored it - front tire smoking, we made it out of that particular obstacle and were ready to face the next challenge.

A kind of American Gladiators of sorts for cars, the next challenge was the incline (to get back onto the road). We watched many attempt and fail - Oh, what was that non-4x4 bus thinking? The time came when we were up. Our driver backed up a little and gunned it and...well, you know that big Viking ship ride at amusement parks? It was kind of like that. We went really fast up and then just as fast back down. He told and motioned for us to get out of the car. He backed it way up and let 'er rip. Success! We all scrambled up the hill and back into the car. Our driver had the best laugh and the 4 songs he was able to play on the tape deck will forever be in my memory - laughing, singing and cheering we set off for the next roadside challenge. As we were leaving he slowed way down so we could watch the bus make another attempt at the incline.

The next challenge was the obstacle course. We were driving down the road when all of a sudden our driver starts to look around, like, a lot. Suddenly he stops, backs up a little and asks some locals by the roadside a question. They all nod and he pays him some money. They move some rocks and we go through. We are speeding along a little village path, normally for tractors and horse carts. We race past an official looking building. Lis asks the driver if that was a check point. The driver laughs a little and says yes. She them asked him why we are driving around it as we have permits. He tells her that "sometimes they don't like to let people through". Silent pause. He starts to laugh and points at the check station and laughs. We all start to laugh as we make our little round about around the check point through this little village. Sooner or later we were driving parallel to the main road when we see a very official looking black 4x4 with tinted windows, lights and a siren approaching us from the main road. Inside were some very serious looking PSB officials, who were not amused with something. Our driver got very serious and just plowed on. We got back onto the main road with a couple of other vehicles who took the same route we had taken. The big black car got closer to us and then passed us to pull over a rather large truck. I guess that would be more suspicious, a big truck taking the "detour" rather than a couple of 4x4s carrying no more than 10 tourists.

Anyhow, after that we all exhaled. Relief!

The last challenge was both a mental and physical challenge. We took another "detour" from the main road in which we cut through another village. Everything was going well until we stumbled across a truck that was hopelessly stuck. The back wheels were, well, screwed! One wouldn't move at all because it was so stuck in the mud and the other was touching nothing - so just spinning. Was our driver going to sit around and wait for it to work itself out? No! He's a man of action - so he and some of the locals tried a couple of things to try to unstick it, but the truck would not budge. So he gathered up some more people to push the truck from side to side and he was able to get it to budge. The truck slowly lurched from its pit and promptly slid along to the next big muddy hole, almost got stuck again, but managed to crawl out of it.

Our last night of our road trip was back in Shigatse. We wound up getting a really nice room - shared bathroom facilities, but at least they were clean (can't say the same about Everest - literally 2 feet of shit surrounding (that would be 2 feet out from the toilet and about 1 foot up) the pit toilet squatter and in front of the platform? Why, a lake a urine! I don't understand what the problem is, I mean I did not grow up with squatters, yet I have never managed to miss that badly AND if I did happen to grossly misjudge where my waste was going, I would try to just take the paper and shove it down the hole. Y'know clean up after myself. I mean, really, how did 2 feet all the way around happen? Yes, I peed on my feet and there was no one else to blame but myself (er...and the dark) for that one, but I did clean up after myself and it's not like I just chose to take a big dump 2 feet to the left of the toilet and leave it there for someone else to deal with. Also, there should be a rule that if you are unsure about how to use a pedestal toilet, do not attempt it. Anyhow, back to the story) which we didn't always have along the trip. We all went to a great restaurant called, Tashi and I had a most excellent vegetable korma and garlic naan (oooh, yummmm).

The next morning, back to Lhasa. We decided to drive most of the way through - we did stop so our driver could wash the car with water from a nearby stream, but no big challenges on the last day. He got stopped by a PSB officer about his seat belt, one time he pretended to put it on (tucked the strap under his leg) and the other time took it off as soon as we were out of sight.

We did stop at a little town as a horse festival was letting out. It was so cool to see all of the people in their traditional dress - also knowing for many of these people these are the clothes they wear everyday, not just for the tourist shows. We wandered around a little bit - the pictures aren't very good because I didn't feel like taking pictures. But, back at the car, a bunch of little kids came over and were asking for candy. I didn't have any, so I took some pictures of them. They were thrilled! They loved seeing their picture on my little screen. One of the little boys had a toy camera and started to click away at me. The kids are great!

All in all it was a really fun trip, a lot of time in the car, but at least we had the perfect vehicle and driver to make the trip exactly what I was hoping for. I really love it here in Tibet and don't want to leave. Lhasa is a really cool city, but everyone should try to get out and enjoy the scenery and people in the countryside. If you have the interest and means to get out here, do so, soon as it will change fast. We were lamenting that it really may not be too distant in the future that a deluxe hotel will pop up at base camp, complete with plastic palm tree. This place is truly amazing.

Tibetan Tongues

Hello all - I actually started this post before Matt and I left for our road trip, so it is a little dated, but wanted to post it up anyhow.

Just a quick update. Today Matt and I got our first tongue hello. We were walking back from the Tibet Museum (see below) and we passed this little older lady with a ginormous sack on her back. I smiled at her when I saw her and she gave us back the biggest toothless smile and then stuck her tongue out while still smiling. I waved at her and she kept on smiling. We were about 50 feet away from her and she was still standing on the corner, smiling at us with her tongue out. It was great.

The museum was "interesting"....They put a lot of time and money into this museum, and it shows. The exhibit halls were all very nice, good lighting equipment and displays. The text was particularly interesting and informative. So for those of you who don't know about the fascinating history, take out a piece of paper and a pencil, and prepared to get schooled by the Central Authority. Here are some snippets of the text that I scribbled down:

From the Art and Culture Room: The cultural tradition prospered down to the present in language, literature, art, medication, astronomy and calendar with more brilliant achievements under the Socialist system.

From the Jade Room: Jade seals and slips are representative objects in the collection, not only represents the Central Government's recognition of Tibetan authority, but also witnessing the effective administration and sovereignty in Tibet executed by the Chinese Central Government.

Entitled, "Tibet is Inalienable in its History": ...In 1791 the Qing government stationed an army in Tibet and from 1792-1793 the central government proclaimed the "Imperial Edicts over Administration in Tibet" which regulated the management in political, financial, military, diplomatic and religious affairs in Tibet with a view to enhance centralization. On the 23rd of May 1951 the "Agreement on Peaceful Solution of the Issue in Tibet between the Central People's Government and the local Government of Tibet" was signed in Beijing, which marked the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

From the "Tibet's Natural Resources" Room: Tibet has been an attraction of visit in its unknowns. The "no man's" land to the North of the plateau is ever more unknown. It's described as a natural treasure owing to its bright future with its particular geographical conditions and rich natural resources. Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, particularly since the reform and opening up, by the tender care of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and by the highly concern and correct leadership of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party committee, including the help of the sister's departments, the "no man's land" in Tibet's Northern plateau has undergone remarkable change in its protection of science, and a good foundation is laid for its proper opening of natural resources.

The Exhibit Forward (right when you walk in):

Tibet - snow-clad majestically on the roof of the globe. Its celestial poise since antiquity never fails to agitate our patriotic pride.

It was on this sky-scraping tableland and with their assiduous labour and splendid wisdom that the Tibetan ancestors created the brilliant ancient civilization and left behind them a wealth of cultural legacy over history. Traversing over the space and span of Tibetan history and culture, one can't help the eruption of nostalgia and reminiscence. A probe into the remote history of Tibet, the magnitude and profoundity of its cultural tradition, the colorful variety of its artistic creations, the aesthetic appreciation of its folkloric style and customs help us to comprehend the luxuriance of foliage and deep-reaching ramifications of the grandiose tree of cultural tradition in China - evergreen and awe-inspiring!

Thanks to the cordial concern of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council and under the correct leadership of the Party Committee and the local government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, marked success has been achieved in the construction of Tibetan economy and culture and important attention has been paid to the preservation of cultural relics. Colossal investments have been allocated to complete the building of the Tibetan Museum. And also thanks to the positive supports from all social walks of life, the collection compilation and research in cultural works, in archives and documents were smoothly streamlined. Upon the happy coincidence of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 40th annual celebration of the Democratic Reform in Tibet, the Tibetan Museum ceremoniously presents this Exhibition on the History & Culture of Tibet as a gift to the jubilee!

Entering the Exhibition, we find ourselves in an exotic holy place - history is welcoming us and we are marching into it. Across the space of history, we see the contributions made by the Tibetan people in building up the brilliant culture of the Chinese nation and in its national unification which brings us under the profound impression that the prosperity, decline, glory and humiliation of Tibet are always intimately connected to the fate of our great motherland.

Here the antique treasures unite past to the future. The lofty mountains and torrential rivers in Tibet welcome you, honourable guests!

There were signs like the ones above outside of every exhibit hall. All in all, the museum was very carefully, um, planned. The actual exhibit space was very well done, but I would go just for the writing!

So, just like Justin Timberlake when launching his solo career, now the PRC is "Justified" as well.

Okay, so I have, like, hundreds of new pictures up on my flickr site to keep you busy while I work on a new post. Later!

Lhasa-EBC-Lhasa

Hello all - no updates for a little bit because I was on the road and internet was not available. We went on a road trip out to the Everest Base Camp and some other little cities along the way.

It was fantastic! This area is so beautiful - I don't think that words could ever possibly do it justice! I promise to write a long post tomorrow (also pictures - bonus!)

Everything is just breathtaking! Or maybe it is just the lack of oxygen up here :-)

Okay, more tomorrow, so stay tuned!

The Great Tibetan Get Together

Hello all!

Another quick update from the roof top of the world. So we have officially begun seeing stuff on our mandatory tour. Today we eventually were able to see the Jokhang Temple. The outer structures are always really interesting to look at, but the inside was a lot of gold plaster statues. It was neat to see all of the worshippers add butter to the lamps as they made their rounds at the temple - all of the worshippers and the tourists really made it quite cramped some times in the little chapel rooms. Our tour guide is Tibetan which is good because then he can tell us about Tibetan Buddhism and what all of the statues are. The inside was interesting, the floor was really slippery because of all of the butter and soot like stuff. The most interesting though were watching all of the worshippers with their beads and wheels/rattles going around and adding yak butter to all of the candle lamps in the various chapels. Later today we will go out to the Sera Monastery. I will post later about that.

It took us awhile to get started today because of a mix-up that wound up pissing me off like something fierce. We went to to travel agency for our mandatory tour and wound up waiting for over an hour after the supposed start time. It turns out that there was a lot of confusion about our hotel room - we had asked the agent in Xining to try to help us pre-book a room in Lhasa as we had heard that hotel rooms were a little difficult to come by. So, she called an agency in Lhasa and told us that there was "no booking" but to stop by the travel agency next to the Banak Shol Hotel and they would help us find a room (this is what I remember, everyone seems to have a different version of events) she also gave us a number to call to set up the tour. We arrive and go to the travel agency next to the Banak Shot Hotel. They didn't have a room for us, they didn't really know what we were talking about. But they did help us find a room at a place not too far away (the Pata Hotel).

The next day we contacted the man for the tour. We briefly met him and he gave us his card. He told us to meet him at his office at the Banak Shol the next day for the start of the tour. So, we go there and he's not at the tour place that we originally went to, but there was another, poorly marked tour agency on the second floor of the hotel. So we go there and wait. A little later we find out that another guy working for that tour agency booked and paid for a room for us at the Banak Shol hotel and was demanding that we pay him 140 yuan for the room that we didn't wind up staying in. We say that what he was telling us was not what we were told and that we should not have to pay it, but because it was a misunderstanding between us and they agencies, we would pay half. He would not budge and just kept on saying the same thing. What a shyster! I can't stand people like that.

Lhasa is really a beautiful place to visit. The government has just made it such an incredible rip off for the non-Chinese tourist to visit. We decided to fly, in order to do so you need a permit, in order to get the permit you must sign on to a tour. The permit alone costs about 400 yuan, but the mandatory tour (which does not include admissions costs) costs another 1020 yuan. This includes a 4 person room and a public toilet - something we really did not want. So, we were able to get them to knock off the room cost, but still the tour is a huge rip off - an incredible racket to fleece tourists.

Anyhow, so getting here is quite expensive but I guess in the long run it will be worth it. I just hate all of the added costs - in one way or another China will make you pay.

So, yesterday we made another round at the market - Matt caught up with a couple of clingy beggars. We haven't bought anything yet, but will do so after our outing to the Everest Base Camp. It is fun to be at the market though, to see all of the worshippers making their way around the kora, all of the PSB officials watching all of the worshippers and looking up to see the cameras mounted on top of some buildings watching all of us. We also saw an uncomfortable situation with a young Tibetan woman shop assistant and an old PSB officer - a really creepy encounter in which he was whisking her away to an upstairs room area.

Oh, the title! The MN State Fair is known as "The Great Minnesota Get Together" - so, this is nothing like that, but mobs of people following an invisible path around outside while looking at booths of stuff, the butter sculptures, the food on a stick and the fried cheese curds...well i just couldn't help the analogy.

I will end this post with, yaks are awesome! Bye-bye!

:-P

Yes, this is the second post that I have started with an emoticon. No, I am not ashamed.

So, Matt and I are in Lhasa and I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you that it is pretty damn cool here and I already LOVE it here. The western side of the city pretty much looks like a Chinese city anywhere, but once you go over to the east side - it is a whole new world. I will have to tip-toe around certain political issues here - and if you post a comment, best not to voice your personal feelings about this area. You can probably guess what my feelings about it are - the eastern side doesn't really feel like you are even in China (ahem, ahem, wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and it is really refreshing.

I just can't even begin to describe how cool it is here. We wound up flying - sort of wussed out but, no one seemed to know what was going on with the train situation and we didn't want to wait around longer until someone did. Yes, true, we could have jumped a bus from Golmud. But we would have to first get to Golmud and pay just as much to travel from there on a bus. So, flying. We have never regretted flying. Clean and fast. Oooh, baby! So nice!

We arrived and hopped an airport bus to the city. The landscape was beautiful on the way from the airport - the clouds seemed so low. The bus drove by the Potala Palace - the winter residence to a number of the Dali Lamas. I have to say that it is one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen! I will try to snap some pictures, but I don't think that they will do it justice.

We actually lucked out and found a hotel (with some help) and the room is very nice. Because of the train, hotels are really booked up. We grabbed a great dinner at a really relaxing place and explored the Barkhor Market after. The scene was really something else! Both sides of the marketplace were lined with stalls and stores. The Barkhor is also one of the "koras" - pilgrimage paths. So we followed the worshippers around the path - the worshippers were praying and reciting mantras while fingering beads or spinning a prayer rattle. Some were prostrating the entire stretch of the path. There were all kinds of interesting people to look at. The people don't look anything like the people we have seen elsewhere in China. I just don't have the vocabulary to describe the scene right now - I am fairly tired.

So,we both are really excited to be here and are looking forward to some more exploration. The altitude isn't really bothering us yet, but I guess the effects can take up to 24 hours before you really get symptoms.

Oh,the emoticon - I was reading that a common greeting in the countryside is to stick out your tongue. This is to determine who is a human and who is a demon. Demons will have a green tongue even when they are in a human form.

Okay, so that is all for now, but I will write more later after some good shut eye.

Big Stuff in Qinghai

So, our time in Xining is drawing to a close. Tomorrow we will be hopping a plane to Lhasa. Both of us are really excited about this trip! The "Roof top of the world" and "Shangri-la". Cool. We really don't know what to expect there. We have been told that Lhasa is really Chinese in feeling and to try to travel out. With the new train line that has been opened, new restrictions for foreigners shortly followed. It will be interesting to see what we can do, what we can't do, how much the things we can do are and how much the things we can't do wind up being. Many things are, umm, "negotiable" here.

What have we been up to in Xining? Well, not a whole heck of a lot. A couple of days ago we went out to see the very large Qinghai Lake. It is a large salt water, "surreal" lake. And well, yes, that is correct. Large lake. Don't know about "surreal", but it was, um, water. It seems that many of the sites that we have gone to see natural and unnatural usually aren't worth the money we pay to go see them. Sure, there are exceptions, but how much do I really want to pay to see a large, gold, painted plaster statue? Also, we have to pay to see natural features like the lake. Not a small amount either, then pay to take the tram around the area, pay to take a boat out, etc. Usually when we conclude our day we are relieved to be off of the tour (Chinese tours are definitely one of the circles of hell) and our general thinking is not how cool the experience was, but at least we won't wonder what we missed.

Anyhow, about the lake. It was an interesting area. Coming from the very brown and dry Guyuan, Xining is very lush in comparison. I enjoyed looking out at the green hillsides. It was almost as if someone covered all of the hills with velvet green drapery. It was beautiful! The scenery was also very interesting - these green hills turn into rocky hills which turn into sand dunes which turn back into green hills.... We had a great tour guide, but concluded that being a Chinese tour guide would be horrible! He spoke some English and he seemed to be excited that some foreigners were on his tour - I think that we were his first.

We also met a couple of people from Poland who were traveling up from India, Nepal through Tibet into China. They were fun to talk to and they were able to give us some travel advice about traveling around Lhasa and Tibet. They also told us about visiting Poland and Belarus, the guy was very excited about Belarus (see Matt's blog). We were able to share some frustrations we have experienced along the way and got some laughs. When we went our separate ways - he called out, "see you in Poland!"

What else...

Today we walked by one of the largest mosques in Western China. Again, yes, it was big. Foreigners aren't allowed inside, so we just gazed at its bigness from across the street. It was fairly unremarkable though. It just seemed to lack the character we have seen in other mosques here in China. But, yes, it was big, so there you are.

Now, we are just trying to get everything together for the trip out to Lhasa and who knows where else in Tibet - we'll see what the PSB will allow us to do. Hopefully the altitude won't make us sick for too long and even more so, hopefully neither of us will have a case of acute mountain sickness and have to leave.

The next time I check in will be from Lhasa. If you have any shopping requests, please drop me a comment. I may not be able to fulfill any of them as, well, I am a volunteer and all, making a volunteer's salary. But, at least I will be able to try to bargain for some things and you may get lucky!

Remember the '80s

So, I have finally gotten around to reading a certain book about the early-mid eighties here in China. I have to say that it is especially interesting reading it here. There are many things (so far) that seem to be coincidental similarities from the book to the history/society that I am currently living in.

Or well

Oops...

I mean, "oh, well"

Ramblings by Matt

I didn't want you to miss Matt's latest post:

Little Buddhist Dogs Attacked Me

Today we visted Ta'er Si, one of the most important Tibetan monastaries in Qinghai. We spent the afternoon meandering around and I managed to meander into a courtyard next to the yak butter sculptures that was apparently off limits.

Usually, it is fairly comical to see little dogs attempt to ward off intruders. They bark, twirl, do backflips, whatever. As it was this time. But they were emboldened by their numbers.

Of course, it didn't actually strike me that I should be concerned when these five little lap ornaments drew near. Afterall, we were in a holy place and their master was probably some revered holy man. This was not a place of violence. And, they were little.

Then one bit me. Right on the lower calf.

Which places one in a predicament in a venerated monastary. Is it okay to kick a dog in self-defense? How about scaring them? Is it permissible to bark back? Or growl? How stupid am I willing to look?

And, given that they were buddhist dogs, were they really dogs? Was this actually some errant holy man from a past life now, literally, nipping at my heels.

Unlike them, I chose the peaceful path and walked out of the courtyard. They followed, but then I reached the steps. It was a pretty steep first step.

So, I didn't get to see what was inside the buildings next to the courtyard. However, I'd like to think I earned some good karma in the process.

And I'd like to think that the dog that bit me will soon be a cat.

Two Monks, an American and a Korean...

We just got back from looking at a Buddhist monastery. It was interesting, but I think that the buildings are more interesting than the actual contents inside - usually a large, gold plaster statue. But I'm getting ahead of myself once again.

We finally made it to Xining! We rolled into to town really early in the morning (around midnight). We don't know why, maybe all of the people trying to take the train to Lhasa, but we could not find a hotel room. We had the bus drop us off at one place, which was closed and locked shut. So we set off looking for alternative lodging. Suddenly, the sky just opened up and started to down pour. We ran over to where some people were beckoning for us to come over. They had some little food tents set up, we told them that we really weren't interested in eating, but we needed to find a hotel for the night. So one of the older women, beckoned a cab over and told the driver to bring us around town until we found a place for the night. She was so nice and helpful - was even worried that I would get cold.

So, Matt and I piled into the cab with our huge backpacks and we set off to find a hotel. One hour later, no luck. Two hours later, no luck. They drove us around everywhere in town and asked the hotels if they had rooms without any luck. Finally, as the third hour approached, the lady asked us about going to a public lodging place. As it was 3 AM anywhere would be fine with us. So, they talked to a man at a boarding place about how there wasn't anywhere for us to go. He eventually let us in. I don't think that this was a place where foreigners were supposed to go. It was nice enough for one night. Shared bathroom with a scary squatter, but the room was clean and we could rest for a couple of hours. When I went to the bathroom, the light was a motion sensor type of switch. I didn't know this. I get all set to do my business - pants down, squatting - aimed over the hole and ready to go. Then the light goes out. I am pants down squatting over a smelly hole in the dark. Since there was nothing I could really do to remedy the situation, I just had to go - I don't know how much actually made it into the toilet, but I know that I did manage to pee on my feet a little.

The next morning I was woken up by a set of vicious mosquitoes and many welts on my arms and one particularly good one on my cheek. We decided to try to find a hotel as we were in a Chinese only place. So, we wound up finding a room down near the train station. The noise is a little bad, but not bad enough to expend the energy to find a new room. We also got a chance to explore the town. Xining is great! Not quite the wild west of China as I was expecting, but neat all the same. The people here look a lot different than the people that we had seen in Guyuan and elsewhere in China. It is an interesting mix of ethnicities.

Anyhow, today we went to a monastery. It was a fun place to look around. Matt got attacked by a pack of little dogs, but he can tell you about that. One of the coolest things was the yak butter sculptures. They were really something else! It makes the butter portraits at the MN state fair look like a kindergarten art project (not that the MN ones aren't cool, it's just, well you know...)

What else...

I GOT PUSHED BY A MONK

I was looking at one of the little alters and there was space all around me and a monk wanted to get by (apparently), so he shoved me out of the way. Seriously. Not a little brush past push not a tap-tap I want to get by sort of thing. I almost fell down. Stop laughing. What is the appropriate response? I decided a little laugh was the best response because you really can't shove a monk back or elbow him in retaliation, right?

Anyhow, we decided to catch a cab back. As we were leaving, a group of monks asked us if a couple of them could hitch a ride with us to Xining (since there was only 2 of us in the cab) and how do you say “no” to a monk who has given up all of his earthly possessions. So we all squeezed in and set off back to Xining. Now, I think we'll go back to the market place, grab a bite to eat and think more about the next leg of our trip.

Killing More Time

*sigh*

We went out to the airport yesterday all excited about "hassle free traveling" only to find out that our plane was "broken" and we can't leave for another couple of days.

So, we got ripped off by the cabbie, went back to the hotel we just checked out from and went back to the travel agency to straighten out our ticket situation. I don't think I can spend another 6 hours at an internet cafe like yesterday....

So far, we have not been too impressed with the quality of the things we buy here. Matt has yet to have a watch that will last more than 2 weeks.

Oh well, at least they didn't try to quickly fix the plane - just imagine the announcement, "Um...we are looking for about 20 passengers who currently have some chewing gum...."