Another Saturday in Arusha

February 27th was a beautiful Saturday with bright, clear skies (definitely not a guarantee this time of year, as rainy season is getting started).  The picture above is looking down my road from my front gate.  I went to Arusha with Beth and Emmy to run errands and do some shopping.  Emmy got a lollipop at one point as we were running errands downtown.  She loves to see if they will turn her tongue different colors, and this one definitely did!  I took a photo so she could see it since we didn't have a mirror.  I told her that now her tongue matches her dress. 

I needed to get new keys made for the school library and a few others things, so I spent a while waiting at a roadside key fundi waiting for them.  This is one of the main roads downtown, a block or so over from the main market.  

While shopping downtown, Emmy found these giant tulle bows on a head band, and Beth let her get one.  She enjoyed looking like Minnie Mouse in such a big bow! I got this photo of her when we finally stopped to eat something-between-lunch-and-dinner at AIM mall after we finished our errands for the day.  

One the way home, we turned onto the Monduli road at just the right time of day (between about 5:30 and 6:30 in the afternoon) and it was a clear enough day that we could see Mt. Kilimanjaro briefly beyond Mt. Meru before we went far enough that Meru blocks our view.  Only on the clearest days is Kilimanjaro visible this far away--nearly 100 miles away.  It's hard to see in pictures, but if you look to the bottom right of Mt. Mery, just between the mountain and that biggest bush, you can see the snowy peak in the distance. 

While it's not the dramatic shape of Meru or Kilimanjaro, I think our Monduli Mountain is beautiful, too, especially in the afternoon light as we drive home. 

 

Ijen Plateau

As far as scenery goes, Java's thing is volcanoes.  With 127 active volcanoes and plenty of remains of volcanoes from the past, there are plenty to see: Merapi, one of the most active in the world, near Yogyakarta, which has been erupting frequently for years; Bromo with its barren moon-scape slopes; Krakatoa, the big one that supposedly made the loudest sound in modern history (heard 3000 miles away) when it erupted in 1883; Tambora, which caused the Year with No Summer in 1815. I saw two while I was in Java, Bromo and Ijen. 

The Ijen Plateau is a region of Volcanic hotspots in eastern Java; the main peaks are Ijen, Merapi, and Raung.  Ijen has become a fairly popular place for travelers as it's possible to hike up to the rim of the crater, and look down over Kawah Ijen, a lake that has formed in the crater, at just over 7000 feet.  Around the lake, vents cough out sulphurous smoke; sometimes the lake even boils when the volcano is particularly angry.  

Another interesting thing about Ijen from the Lonely Planet: "Around 300 collectors (all men) work here, getting up at between 2am and 4am to hike up to the crater to hack out the yellow stuff by hand.  For most the only protection against the cone's noxious fumes are the cotton scarves they tie around their noses.  These DIY miners then spend the next six or so hours scurrying back down the volcano with loads of 60kg to 80kg on their backs. It's incredibly tough work that pays very little (around 600rp [five cents] per kilogram), and yet the physical exercise keeps the collectors incredibly fit- few report health problems, despite breathing great lungfuls of sulphurous fumes virtually every day of their lives. Ijen sulphur is used for cosmetics and medicine, and is added to fertiliser and insecticides. Historically, sulphur was commonly called brimstone.  Some of the miners achieved local celebrity status after appearing on the BBC's landmark Human Planet series."

Some people go on a night hike into the crater; the sulphur-vents burn blue and give an eerie light.  The smell of sulphur is so strong and the volcanic gases burn people's eyes and throats, so most people wear some sort of gas mask. While seeing the blue lights is supposed to be an amazing experience, I didn't even think of going on that little adventure. First of all, we had just had three hours of sleep the night before, so I really wasn't in the mood for an all-nighter, and second, it's highly recommended that anyone with respiratory problems not go into the crater, and I figured my bad chest cold counted. 

For all those who chose not to go on the blue-light hike, we again were up at 3:30 and left at four for a hike up to the rim. I started up the wide, hard-packed dirt road to the crater with everyone else, but I told them not to wait on me and soon fell behind.  Ordinarily, it wouldn't have been too bad, but while my chest cold seemed to be getting better, or at least migrating into a head cold, the afternoon before, during the night it settled into my chest again.  It's hard to hike up a steep hill when you can only take shallow breaths. And besides, it was quite foggy; the trees along the path blurred in and out of the mist like wraiths.  I don't like to be a quitter, but it was obvious that there wasn't going to be much to see in these clouds, and getting out of breath was making me cough too hard to go on.  

After about a kilometer, I turned back and headed for a little shelter I had passed a way back and set on the concrete step and began writing this post (although I didn't finish; I am wrapping it up sitting on the beach in Bali). After a while a girl from Jakarta came along and sat down while waiting on her friends to catch up, and we chatted for a while. I did see some of the sulphur miners come by with their loads of ghastly yellow chunks. A couple set their baskets by the side of the road for a bit, and I got a closer look.  The sulphur really does have a strong smell of eggs.
 
After a while, I wandered back down to the parking lot, bought some strawberry juice, changed from my nasty hiking shoes into flip-flops, and waited for the rest of the group to return.  It turns out I made the right decision to turn back; as I had thought, there wasn't much to see in the fog at the top.  As soon as everyone straggled back to the van, we were off again. 

Whitewater River, Blue Moon Valley

Our next stop after returning our coats was the Blue Moon Valley.  The valley was formed by the melting snow that runs off of the mountains, and the Whitewater River runs through it.  Along the way the river pools into four lakes: the Tingtao, Lanue, Jingtian, and Yue Lakes. 

We had a couple of hours to walk around here; one nice thing about being on the tour is that I wouldn't have thought to come here, but the views of the mountain from the valley below were some of the best pictures I took of it.  And the lakes were incredible colors--the first I walked by was a brilliant turquoise, and the next a bright sea green.  Along the way there were two different sets of waterfalls and picture-taking points (they had, of course, tourist-trap-ified it as much as possible, as is the Chinese taste).  The waterfalls were pretty, but after a closer inspection we came to the conclusion that they were probably fake.  The rocks were just a little too perfectly placed, and didn't quite match the rocks around the sides of the lakes.  However, they were at least pretty, and the brilliant color of the lakes and the mountain rising above certainly weren't fake. 

Looking up at the mountain from here, we were even able to pick out exactly where we'd been, up by the highest peak, comparing its shape to pictures we had taken while up there. 

After we left the valley, we loaded back up and headed back into town.  The tour was scheduled to continue through the Black Dragon Pond Park on the edge of Lijiang, but as I'd already been there the day before, I made a short cut through the edge of the park and headed back into town.  I found a sunny bench to rest for a while and work on blog posts, and then finally headed off the dinner. 

I Love Mountains

I know this is my third post about going up on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain...but I really do love mountains.  I couldn't pick just three or four photos...so here's another post just to post some more. 

We spent a couple of hours up on the peak.  We hiked up to the top to look at the glacier first, and to enjoy the highest view we could, and then came back down to the big deck near the cable car station.  At any and every sight that is in any way picturesque or touristy in China, there is a stand that rents out traditional or "traditional" (varying degrees of authenticity) costumes for people to take pictures of themselves dressed up in front of the whatever-tourist-sight-happens-to-be-in-the-background.  I first saw them by the city wall back in Jingzhou, and everywhere else since.  Even up here at 15000 feet, there was the predictable stand.  Here at least the costumes weren't the usual ye olde silk robes; they were going for the costumes of the local minority people, the Naxi.  I'm no expert on traditional costumes, so I don't know how close they got it, but at least they were interesting, with especially fancy headgear of fur and silver.  None of us foreigners dressed up, but several Chinese girls in costume happily agreed to pose for photos for us. 

After we took the cable car down, we loaded back onto the bus, went back to the Visitors Center to return to coats, and then loaded up again for a trip down to the Blue Valley. 

Glacier

 

The cable car that we took up Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is the highest passenger cable car in China, since it goes up to over 15000 feet.  One of the things to see up there, besides the view and the mountain itself, is the glaciers.  There are nineteen glaciers around the mountain, all at over 4000 meters (13000 feet); their claim to fame is being the southernmost glaciers in the northern hemisphere, as it's very unusual to find any so far south.  The hike up from the cable car station leads to a platform to look at one of the glaciers, so here are a few pictures. 

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Mountains have always been my weakness.  When I read in the Lonely Planet that there were cable cars up on to this one, it was immediately added to my mental itinerary, even if it was the most expensive day of the trip so far (and hopefully of the entire trip).

I joined an organized trip on the advice of the ever-helpful receptionist at the hostel;  although pricey, when added up it cost barely more than all the buses, fees, etc. would cost on their own, and saved a lot of hassle.  And, it would take me to the Blue Valley, which I didn't know about and therefore never would have found otherwise. 

Our first stop was a large, fancy visitor center; it wasn't terribly busy this time of year, but I'm sure it's bustling in the summer.  We trotted after our guide around an annoyingly long walkway and through the building and up to the back of the second floor to get our warm parkas and little personal oxygen canisters before heading up the mountain.  It seemed terribly inefficient to have this necessary counter since far from the parking lot, but I suppose their point was not the convenience of the guests but rather funneling them by as many souvenir shops as possible on the way.

Anyhow, we got what we needed and we were soon off.  Our next stop was the cable car station. I had walked from the hostel with an Austrian couple, Thomas and Anne-Marie, but now I ended up in line with the one other foreigner on the trip, a Swiss man, Eric.  For the rest of the day, we walked around together.  Traveling alone as usual it was nice to have a friend for the day. 

Once we arrived at the top of the cable car, we were already at nearly fifteen thousand feet.  The highest I remember ever being before was probably when my brother and I took the ski lifts up the Rothorn, the mountain across from the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps.  This had that beat by five thousand feet. 

And then climbed higher.  From the cable car station, a wooden boardwalk, mostly stairs, went up the mountain to a viewing platform over the glacier.  Up that high, the air is thinner, so you get out of breath much quicker than you usually would.  On the way up the cable car,Eric and I were wondering if the Chinese people across from us, who were already huffing their oxygen canisters, really felt the altitude yet or if they were just experimenting.  We certainly didn't feel anything yet.  But as we tackled stair after stair, the oxygen became useful.  I would stop and take a few deep breaths before each set of steps,and then scamper up before the effects wore off.  It was so easy to climb with oxygen, but without it seemed like I was dragging myself up.  

At the top deck, we reached our highest altitude-4680 meters, or 15354 feet.  It felt like the top of the world, and it boggled my mind to think that Everest is still another fourteen thousand feet up. Here's a picture of me with the marker at the top. I look like a fluffball, of course.  I was wearing three shirts, my fleece jacket, my windbreaker coat, and the parka they provided, and I was comfortable, not overly warm.  They weren't lying when they said it would be cold up there!  It wasn't too bad with all those layers until suddenly a strong wind would start up and blow snow swirling around, stinging our faces and making it too cold to breathe for a moment.  It felt at one point like it would have blown me over if I didn't have a firm grip on the rail; I don't know how some of these tiny Chinese girls don't go airborne. 

Edit: I don't know where the picture of me at the top went.  I'll try to add it later. 

First View of the Mountain

I knew that Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was close to Lijiang, but it still took me by surprise when I was winding my way through bustling Sifang Square and happened to glance down one if the side streets.  And there it was, framed by the tiled roofline of the old-Naxi-shops-and-homes-turned-souvenir-stands.  I got that chest-tightening, breath-holding thrill if joy that seems to go along with the sound, "Eeeeee!" Although I never do the sound. Does anyone else feel that thrill of joy or excitement that way?

My course for the next three hours was determined by the mountain.  It was my beacon as I chose my route through the winding streets, going whichever way led me closer to a clear view of the mountain, until I finally came to the perfect view in the Black Dragon Pond Park.

I love mountains. 

Travel Advice: Laos

From Hanoi, I took an overnight bus to Vientiane, Laos.  Red leather reclining seats and all.  You can get a visa for Laos at the border, or at the airport if you fly in to either Vientiane or Luang Prabang. Vientiane, and Laos in general, are so relaxing.  Vietnam has eighty-eight million people; Laos has six. Most of Laos is still jungle. There is no fast food in the country; a whole country without a McDonald’s is a nice change! Even though Vientiane is the capital, it feels like a small town.  There’s the Patuxai monument, and a neighborhood with sophisticated shopping--Gucci, Dolce Gabbana, and such.  There’s several wats, and along the river (forming the border with Thailand; you’d think there’d be a convenient  border crossing here, but in fact, the closest place to cross into Thailand is several miles away), open-air restaurants are set up on the sidewalk nearly every night in good weather.  I had the best barbecue ribs I think I’ve ever had  at a western  restaurant a few blocks away from the river; after you’ve been in China awhile, you really crave barbecue! There’s nothing terribly exciting to do in Vientiane other than eat and wander, but it’s a nice place to take it easy for a couple of days.  

  

The most popular place to visit in Laos is Luang Prabang.  They do have a small airport there, or you can go by land.  The easiest  way by land is a ten-hour bus trip from Vientiane.  The scenery along the way was so good, though, that it didn’t seem long at all.  You pass rice fields, villages of straw huts where naked children bathe by the village pump, and finally wind up into the mountains.  If you are prone to motion sickness, do take some dramamine to Laos.  About half way you pass Vang Vieng, a backpacker town  famous for extreme sports (mountain climbing, rafting, etc.) but I didn’t stop there. Once you arrive at the bus station in Luang Prabang, you can get a little truck that carries six people to take you to Sakkaline Road, which is the main street  off of which there are a lot of hotels and such.  Some of the guesthouses are quite expensive, but if you look online first you should be able to find a simpler place on a side street that is reasonable.  

Luang Prabang itself is surprisingly western for being in the jungle of northern Laos. A lot of its architecture is from when Laos was part of the French colony of Indochina; it’s filled with boutique hotels and western restaurants.  However, it’s a lot of fun, and it’s in a beautiful spot on a peninsula of land where the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers meet.   At night, there’s a huge street market on Sisavangvong Road where you can buy wonderful souvenirs.  If you go down to the very tip of the peninsula and fight your way through the weeds on a little path down to the river bank,  you will find a boy waiting with a boat who will take you across  the Khan for about  5000 kips (very little).   On that side is a village of wooden houses, with a few shops selling  woven  scarves and such.  Not a whole lot to do, but nice just to get into a village area for a bit.   There are several wats and temples in town; definitely spend a bit of time to explore these--they’re absolutely beautiful.  One of them, Wat Xieng Thong, has exterior walls  that are gilded gold, and it was only a block off the main road.  There are several others  that are just as nice along Sakkaline Road and Sisavangvong Road (The same road, really, but the name changes along the way).  My only regret about my time in Luang Prabang is that I didn’t plan time to spend more time in the wats, especially Wat Chom Si, which is up on a hill and has a good view.  Before you enter a temple, you must leave your shoes outside the door.  

Since there are so many wats and monasteries, there are lots of monks, mostly young boys in training.  They all wear bright orange robes and have shaved heads, so they’re easy to pick out.  At a certain time early in the morning, I think around six, the townspeople line the streets and the monks, hundreds of them, file through in a line with their bowls.  The townspeople put sticky rice and other food into their bowls as they pass.  They are used to  foreigners coming out to watch, so long as they are respectful.  The monks are not supposed to talk during the procession, and it’s considered disrespectful to touch the monks or block their path.  

The best thing about Luang Prabang, though, is where you can go from there.  There are elephant sanctuaries in the jungle near town; you can go for an elephant ride or spend the day giving an elephant a bath in the river.  There are several waterfalls; I went to Kuang Si and it was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen; water cascading down a whole series of drops through the jungle; the water was sea green, and there were calmer pools down from the falls where you could swim in the icy cold water; there is a little hut with a couple of stalls for changing in down there.  Along the path to the waterfall you pass a sanctuary for Asiatic Black Bears, better known as moon bears, that have been rescued from poachers  There are villages of ethnic minorities; one sells their own kind of whiskey--each bottle has either a scorpion or a small snake  preserved in it.  It made a good gift  for my brother.  You can buy it at the night market, too.  You can take a long boat across the  Mekong to the Buddha Cave.  There’s plenty of other things, too.  You can rent a scooter for about $25-30  a day and get yourself to some of them, or hire a tuk-tuk if you have a few people to share the fare, or you can join a small group  van trip.  There are several places along the main road that offer these group trips; I took one with only four people.  Visit several and compare what they offer.  These trips are about $40 for a day, but they pack a lot in.    

Leaving Luang Prabang depends on where you’re going next.  Bus to Vientiane if you’re going that way, flights to various places, a boat down the Mekong to Thailand, or, what I did--a twenty-four hour sleeper bus back into China, to Kunming.  Do not take this route if you’re prone to motion sickness.  The first five hours were terrible--winding through and over the mountains on a barely paved road in a large bus, while on a bunk that I couldn’t sit up in.  I just had to hang on tight to the rails to keep from being thrown out of the bunk while  repeating over and over, “I will not be sick, I will  not be sick.”  After those first few hours, though, it was quite comfortable.  But, it makes a great story now!  

Travel Advice in China: Guangxi Province (Part 2)

Part 2: Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces

If you go north from Guilin a couple of hours, you can  hike through the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces.  The first step is to take a bus to Longsheng (the town’s name means  Dragon Victory, from an old folk tale about a battle between the good Dragon and evil Tiger); there are a few run-down hotels there if necessary, with different prices depending on if you want  air conditioning or just a fan.  From the bus station, you can take a bus out to the rice terraces; you can start hiking from either end, at Ping’an or Dazhai.  The hike is supposed to take about ten hours; I took a little bit longer as I stopped to take pictures constantly, but that’s a pretty good average.  The hike is not too strenuous, just long; I don’t remember having any trouble even though I'm not very athletic. There are plenty of places to stay if needed in Ping’an and Dazhai, as well as a larger village an hour or two hike from Dazhai.  I paid a  hotel in  Ping’an to hold my large backpack for me, and just took a day bag; when I got to Dazhai I took a bus back to Ping’an to retrieve my things.  

I had to break my trip somewhere in the middle because of a thunderstorm, but I didn't have any trouble finding food and a place to stay in a random little village there.  In fact, it was one of the highlights of the trip, staying with a local family in their wooden house with the fire in the middle of the floor and the nearest designated 'bathroom' (hole in the ground) three houses away in between pig pens.  They didn't speak much English, but we used charades, and I got along pretty well with their little boy as we drew pictures together.  Many local villagers are more than happy to feed or house a traveler; it's a great way to earn some extra cash.  I think she asked about sixty yuan for a night's lodging and two meals.  Just be careful of the local liquor they'll probably offer you; it's strong stuff!

The people who live in the rice terraces are mostly minority tribes; one group is often referred to as the 'tribe of the long-haired ladies'.  These women never cut their hair; most have hair at least to their waist if not all the way to the ground.  They wear it wound into a bit knot just over their foreheads; some of the older women still wear the traditional clothing as well: a knee-length black skirt (long dresses were impractical if you worked in a rice paddy), intricately embroidered belt, and a colorful jacket, usually pink or purple.  Of course, many still wear it because they can get donations from hikers who want to take photos of them.  Some will ask for four or five yuan, and then they will take down their hair and show how long it is, and how they wind it up.

The rice terraces themselves are a fantastic landscape; the people in these mountains have no flat land to raise crops, so they have survived for centuries by terracing all the way up these steep hills and raising rice.  The villages along the way are all made up of large wooden houses that look a bit like barns, tucked into the ravines where it's to steep to even terrace.  Anywhere it's too steep to farm along the path, there were tombs built into hillsides where the families of the villagers are buried.  There are little shelters built in a few places along the path, where both hikers and local porters can stop and rest in the shade.

Be sure and take an extra water bottle and some snacks in your bag; there were often long stretches between villages large enough to offer things for sale. Here's more information.

Travel Advice in China: Guangxi Province (Part1)

Part 1: Guilin and Yangshuo

Guilin is the easiest place to get a train to in Guangxi province.  Many Chinese people go there on vacation, and it’s a nice city, but I wouldn’t recommend doing more than using it as a transportation hub; you can see the same things much more up close in Yangshuo.

From the bus station in Guilin, you can take a forty-five minute bus to Yangshuo.  Yangshuo is a small town on the banks of the Li River, surrounded by karst mountains.  It’s pretty touristy; there are western restaurants and souvenir stands in town.  However, that was a nice break after several months in China: I really enjoyed the grilled cheese and such.  You can easily find a hostel there for about 25 RMB.   I stayed at Monkey Jane’s, but she was fixing to sell it, so don’t know what it’s like now.  There were plenty of them, though.  You can hang out by the river, swim, shop in the market, eat western food until you’re stuffed, and Yangshuo is a great place just to sit and relax. The scenery was worth  the touristiness of the town itself.  

You can rent a bicycle for the day cheaply (15-20 RMB).  You can bike around town, or you can bike out to the Dragon Bridge.  It’s quite a ways over rough roads; it wasn’t really hard but I was pretty sore at the end of the day; I hadn’t ridden a bike in years. Someone at your hostel can give you directions or a basic map, or there might be something in the guide book.  However, I didn’t have to worry about how to get there.  As soon as I got out in the country, there was a Chinese woman in a pink button-up shirt and a straw hat who was waiting with her bike.  She saw me and greeted me, then hopped on the bicycle and took off.  I was going to same way, so I followed a ways behind.  When we came to any kind of cross road or split in the path, she would wait until she knew I was in view, and made sure I saw which one she took.  The path wound through fields and farms and along the river.  It was an amazing view of the countryside and peasant life, and went alongside the river a good bit of the time.  Finally, I arrived at the Dragon Bridge, in a small village; the bridge is very old, but I don’t remember the exact dates right now.  It was a nice scene with the old bridge and all the village boys swimming under it, but the real point is the scenery along the way. The bridge doesn’t look like a dragon or anything; it’s just a bridge, albeit a very old one.  Just so you aren’t disappointed. :)  

Once you get to the Dragon Bridge, there are three ways to get back:  you can bike back by the highway, which is a little faster since you’re on pavement; you can bike back the way you came; or, you can do what I did—hire a bamboo boat and boatman to take you back, not all the way to Yangshuo usually, but at least to where the pavement starts.  It’s not super cheap; I paid 100 RMB (about $14).  However, the boats can hold two, so if you have someone to split it with it’s not bad at all.  They will put the bike on the back. This is why the lady in the pink shirt was going there, to get a cut by arranging these things for visitors.  It was one of the highlights of my travels in China—floating down the river, near sunset, through colorful farms and mountains.

Another thing you should do in Yangshuo is go out to Moon Hill.  You can bike out there, but it’s about 8 km or so and you would have to find a way to secure your bike once you got there; there is also a bus, which I took.  Moon Hill is a mountain with a hole that goes all the way through it, shaped like a half moon.  You can hike up to the crescent, and have an amazing vista of the countryside.  If you’re adventurous, it’s also possible to climb up to the very top. 

Travel Advice in China: Xi'an (and Hua Shan)

Xi’an is a city of about 8 million, and there’s quite a bit to do there.  The most popular thing is the Terra Cotta Warriors, which are a short distance by bus from Xi’an.  It’s really easy to get out to the Terra Cotta Warriors:  if you standing in the door of the train station facing out, go left.  There are several parking lots in front of the train station; the one furthest to the left is where you can get the bus.  You won’t miss it; they are well-marked in English, and many of the buses are even have big decals of the warriors on the side.  If you have extra time (I didn’t), the bus also stops at a couple of other tourist sights on the way out.

Xi’an also has its old city walls around it, and you can walk on top of them at several points.  There are several sights within the city; you can find them all in any good guide book or tourist map.  One sight they will tell you is the Muslim mosque, which is interesting; right next to the gate to the Mosque is the street market.  There are several covered alleys with hundreds of booths; nearby are many shops.  This was a great place to buy all sorts of interesting souvenirs and decorative things for you apartment.  Unfortunately, I was there the very first day of my seven-week trip, so I couldn’t buy too much because I didn’t want to carry it all.

I particularly enjoyed the Gao Courtyard House, also known as the Ancient Folk House, on  Baiyuan Men in the Muslim quarter.  It was only five yuan to go in when I was there, and  there was an older Chinese man who spoke excellent English who was my personal guide--he walked me around the whole place and explained why they ‘d built  it  arranged according to the rules of feng shui, and what each room was used for, and the family who lived there.  After the tour, there is a tea shop at the back where you can try six different kinds of green tea for only five yuan.  

Baiyuan Men is right in the middle of the area most frequented by travelers, so I was surprised at how many Chinese people weren’t used to foreigners and stared just as much as in Jingzhou.  I had four different people stop me and ask if I would take a picture with them.  I was beginning to wonder of I was the tourist or the attraction. 

Be sure you see the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower at night--they light them up. Besides, it’s a good area for restaurants and such.  Oh, and go to the park by the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, in the southern part of the city.  Get there early and find a spot to sit or stand near the fountains; at about 8:00 PM they have a fun light show with fountains shooting water into the air and colored lights, all in time to music. Here's more information. 

The hostel I stayed at in Xi’an was one of the best I’ve ever stayed at anywhere.  It was the Shuyuan International Youth Party Hostel, and it was just inside the south gate of the city.   It was an old courtyard-style home at one time.  When I started planning my travels in China, I thought the hostels would probably be a lot rougher and not as nice as the ones I stayed at in Europe.  I found just the opposite--the best hostels I’ve ever stayed at  were in China.  

Hua Shan

Now, my thing is hiking, particularly hiking in mountains.  If you like hiking or beautiful scenery, I recommend Hua Shan.  It is a mountain about a three-hour bus ride from Xi’an.  It is one of the sacred mountains of Taoism, and it is one of the steepest mountains in China—the south face is a sheer 2000 foot drop.  You can take a cable car up to the north peak—I recommend that, because the hike up to there is very difficult and even dangerous in places, but if you are a super athlete who’s not afraid of heights, suit yourself.  From the north peak, you can hike four or five hours up to the other three peaks; there are hotels/hostels on the south and east peaks.  Be prepared for a LOT of stairs.  And then more stairs.  And more.  And then one little part more like a  ladder. But, the scenery is worth it.  Spend the night at the top, and then get up at 4:30 or so in the morning (don’t worry, you won’t miss it…the Chinese people in the dorm room will turn on the lights and begin talking loudly in plenty of time).  Take a jacket, even if you go in the summer, because that early it’s pretty cold and windy up there.  Some of the hotels rent out parkas.  Follow the trail up to the highest point of the peak you’re on, and watch the sunrise.  It was a spectacular sight.  Then you can hike around between the peaks if you want and then back to the north peak to go down. You can go back to this post I wrote about the trip if you want to hear the whole story. 

Travel Advice in China: Anhui Province

Anhui Province: Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) and the Villages

The Yellow Mountain, Huangshan, is one of the most famous places in China for the Chinese people.  You’ll see it constantly in their traditional art, on money (can’t remember which bill right now), etc.  It is a unique landscape.  I stayed in the town of Tunxi (there are several great hostels there), and from there I could get a bus (about an hour) to the base of the mountain.   Tunxi has a train station and a bus station, so it’s not hard to reach.  

The thing most people do is go up the mountain on one day, spend the night at one of the hostels near the summit, get up really really early the next morning and watch the sunrise, and then hike down.  The hostel in Tunxi should be willing to store your bag for you while you’re gone; I just took my day bag with a change of clothes in it with me.  Unfortunately, when I was there, it was too foggy the next morning to see the sunrise.  I hope to get the chance to go again while I’m in China.

There is a cable car up part of the way that makes the hike much more manageable if you’re not super athletic (I took it).  The hardest part of the hike is the ascent without the cable car; once you get past the cable car area the hiking is not very strenuous; the trails are well-maintained and mostly paved.   

Also in Anhui province, and also easily reachable as a day trip from Tunxi, there are two ancient villages which are really beautiful to visit.  Xidi and Hongcun Ancient Villages were listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2000.  Xidi was begun between 960-1127, so it is over 900 years old.  Most of the buildings were built in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the whole town is considered a museum of the residences from that time period.  Hongcun is about six miles away, and the town is built in the shape of an ox (only the Chinese would think of this). Read the Travel China Guide article about it for a little more info. 

I went to the village of Xidi. There are buses fairly frequently from the  main bus station--the bus station is not near the train station, but you can take a taxi to it for about  7-8 Yuan. The desk person at your hotel should be able to point you in the right direction.  The bus ride out was beautiful: rolling hills through the countryside on a perfect summer day (okay, a little hot).  It took about an hour from Tunxi.  All the buildings in the village were whitewashed, with slate tile roofs.  Inside (you can go into the temples and a few designated houses), they were full of elaborately carved wooden partitions.  There was a traditional arch near the entrance of the town, and there was a trail to go up to a gazebo on the hillside where you can relax and take pictures of the town from above.  It’s small; you can easily explore it all in one day.  I definitely recommend going and seeing some of the most picturesque little villages in rural China.

The Piano Guys

Alright, Lokey put this video up on facebook.  On a whim, I stopped and listened to it.  And there went my evening...I've been listening to The Piano Guys videos on YouTube for the past three hours.  Really good stuff...this one is my favorite, but there are several that I was really impressed with.  This is what I like most about the internet--the sharing of stories and talents and music and art that otherwise you'd never hear about. 


Coldplay - Paradise (Peponi) African Style (Piano/Cello) Cover - The Piano Guy

Indie Travel Week 1: Resolutions

As I mentioned in my last post. to get myself back in the habit of writing regularly, I'm going to do the 2012 Indie Travel Blog Challenge.   This is an idea from Bootsnall, which is one of my favorite travel websites.  It's been a website to daydream on, as it wasn't blocked at work over the past few months.

The first week's topic is resolutions, surprise surprise.  Although not terribly original, I do appreciate that we have a time each year that we think about where our lives are at and what we'd like to improve.  It's too easy to get so busy living that we don't stop to evaluate and check our direction, and besides, we all need a fresh start sometimes.

My first resolution is, obviously, to write this blog about resolutions.  One down!  Well, really, 1/52 down.  I really want to write, but lack of self-discipline is my worst shortcoming.  The challenge involves writing a blog post  each week, so I'm going to keep you all hanging until December to see if I really keep it or not.  Or at least until next week when I forget to post.  No.  I'm going to do this...I will write a weekly post. I will write a weekly post.  I will write a weekly post.  There.  Leave obnoxious comments if I don't. 

My more difficult resolution is the classic one: I've got to get in better shape.  I've blogged before about my very favorite of all my adventures: mountain hiking.  There was Mt. Etna in 2006, the hike up the mountain on the shore of Lake Como to the lighthouse on Pasquetta (the day after Easter, a public holiday in Italy) in the spring of 2007, Swiss Alps around St. Moritz, and then later around the Matterhorn in summer and winter 2007 (well, I took a train/ski life for most of it on both of those), summer camp in the Sibylline Mountains in central Italy in the summers of 2008 and 2009, looking into the crater of Mt. Vesuvius in May of 2009, hiking in the Tatras in southern Poland in 2009, Hua Shan and Huang Shan in China in the summer of 2010, and, well, Rock City on Lookout Mountain in 2011 (well, it was fun, if not quite so exotic as past years...).  But each year the mountains get a little harder on my knees.  Each year the getting-there gets more miserable.  Hua Shan involved a lot of prayer.  The peaks are always worth it, but the getting-there would be a lot more fun, too, if I kept myself in better shape in the meantime.  And my face wouldn't be so red in all the pictures.

After spending this past year entirely in the U.S., with ubiquitous cars, no sidewalks, and too many creature comforts indoors, I especially need to get into some better habits.  I was going to join some exercise classes offered by my job, but they've schedule them to where everyone from my branch can't attend them (still miffed over that one).  Once I get my new computer, I'll download some of my favorite exercise videos again.  I've thought of catching up on actually watching some of my DVD collection while peddling on the stationary bike upstairs. That doesn't seem to really be much of a workout, but I suppose it would be better than nothing.  I'd go for a walk, but it's dangerous to walk along the highway or in the parking lot at work; we've got the woods behind the house, but the summer I'd get eaten alive by bugs.  In the fall, our neighbors all deer hunt. In winter, it's dark by the time I get home.  That leaves a bit of early spring before the bugs come out too bad.   I also need to forget that Little Debbie Brownies even exist; unfortunately, the rack of them is directly within my line of view all day long at work. :(  Why does it seem  like healthy habits are so inconvenient around here?  When I lived in Italy or in China, or even in college, for that matter, you had to walk to get to public transportation.  You had to walk to the grocery store.  There were sidewalks everywhere and large safe parks to walk in.  There were neighborhoods to meander through and explore; there were towers/belfries/hills/domes to climb for the view.  The lack of walking as a part of everyday life is one of my biggest gripes about life in the U.S.  I get too lazy here.  

Getting in shape may not seem like a travel resolution, but I think it is for me--or at least, that's my biggest motivation for it.  I want to be in better shape to make my travel adventures easier and kinder to my knees. 

Now, the resolution I like to daydream the most about is, as it has been for years, to find my mountain for 2012.  I keep hoping that one of these years it's going to be to Everest base camp, or in the Andes to Machu Picchu, or, my ultimate dream, Kilamanjaro, but I don't think that any of those are going to be right for 2012.  I'm not sure what it will be...but somehow I'll find one.

September 7: Konigsee

Monday morning we met early and took the train--a little over an hour--into the mountains.  We were like little kids watching out he windows looking for the first big ones.  Several of us took pictures out the window as the mountains got bigger and bigger.  We got off at the Konigsee, the King's Sea.   It's a large lake that fills a valley between huge rocky mountains; the name comes from the days of the Bavarian monarchy when the royal family had a vacation home on the lake. 

It was still early; the mist was still on the water as we walked towards the dock.  A postcard-perfect islands was silhouetted int he fog.  We took a boat down the lake 9it's almost like a short, wide river the way it winds around the foot of the mountains) as the sun burned off the mist.  Halfway out, one of the tour guides got out a trumpet and stepped into the doorway of the boat.   He played several calls and then waited while we listened to the perfect echoes bouncing back from the steep mountainsides.  

We docked by St. Bartholomew's chapel, constructed with money given by the royal family.  The white walls and orange-red turrets are quite a contrast against the green mountainside and blue sky  behind it.   Only a few steps away were a restaurant famous for serving mountain trout, smoked whole, a souvenir stand, and toilets.   There were paths that led around the edge of the lake, but we did not have time to explore too far.  I would love to hike the whole thing someday.  It was quite cool--sweatshirt weather--up there in the mountains, but several of the girls went wading anyhow.   I wasn't so brave.