Man Alive: Welcome to Shanghai

Woke up EARLY (4:30am early) to finishing throwing things in our bags and get downstairs for the 5:30 taxi taking us to the airport. At this hour, there’s no traffic, so we made it there in just over 30 mins. We paid her the 120Y and said goodbye. The flight was on time and full. In classically bewildering fashion, the other passengers were already queued up 15 mins before they even called for boarding. Amazingly enough, without queuing, our seats were still right there waiting for us when we got onto the plane. (shaking head in amazement and frustration) We had a layover in Xi’an for an hour about an hour into the flight, where we collected at least 30 other western foreigners. Then it wasn’t long at all before we were in Shanghai (3ish hrs) at Podong (pooh-dong) International Airport where we found that the couter was closed…in podong. Hmmmmm…

We decided to try for the metro to get to our hostel, Naza hostel ($27/night booked on agoda) near the Bund. But the board at the airport is a bit confusing because it makes it seem that all metro lines originate at the airport (they do not). Then we realized that the map was for the airport bus that then took you to the start of each metro line. However, line 2 of the metro really DOES start at the airport, so we decided to take that and just transfer to line 4 (6Y, but the cost varies depending on your destination). It would a 14-stop journey for us. Not too bad, really. But what nothing, nowhere tells you is that at a certain point (the half way mark for us) the green line #2 from the airport terminates and you must transfer onto the waiting train (also on the green line) that then continues the journey in the same direction as the train you were just on. Then THAT train goes back in the direction it just came. So, to clarify, two trains from opposite directions come into the station, where they then unload passengers onto the opposing train, and then each train reverses its direction to go back from whence it came. Confusing? Oh, you betcha! We were mystified.

To be fair, it does announce in English that the train terminates there, but it doesn’t say all passengers must change trains or they will return to the airport! Also, none of the maps in the train indicate that something special happens at this particular station. They also show the green line 2 metro line as a full and continuous route (presumably on the train you’re currently on).

So after staying on our original train (which is now returning us to the airport), we got off at the next stop, and on the opposing train. Then, at this fateful stop, we were greeted with a nearly déjà vu experience. The train stopped. All the lights went off. The other train came. All passengers got off both trains. And then both trains went in the reverse direction. But at least this time, we were on the CORRECT train, going toward our transfer point!

We got off on Dalian Road, went out exit 4, took a left, then another left at the corner (Kunming), walked a block and took a right at the next street (Baoding Road) and Naza Hostel is on the right just a few buildings in. Easy…after asking directions, since the ones from the website weren’t quite as clear.

We dumped our bags then headed out in search of food and to wander. We ate some noodles and spring rolls (9Y) at a nearby restaurant across the street, then wandered into a large street market area where I picked up a bag full of fresh edemame (3Y) and Steve got some local meat dumplings (3Y) that were not very delicious. We then walked down to the waterway area and waited for the sun to go down and the lights on the buildings to come up. It was really pretty—but the best part was the older French inspired area to the west of the famous skyline area. Then we headed back to the room to try to sort out our next move. All I can say for sure is, Chinese holidays suck for the non-Chinese.

As of yet, we’ve got no idea where we’re going from here. You’re guess is as good as ours at this point…

**the title to this blog is purely to make Steve and I laugh. It is taken from the probably misheard lyrics of a horrible song played on the plane at landing “Man a city, man alive…ba, ba, ba, ba, bababababababaaaaah!”

Ha. Ha. Hahahahahahahaha! Couter closed in Pu-dong...

The skyline at dusk

The older,  French Concession of the skyline at dusk

As the buildings begin to come alight...

Fully light, complete with the moon poking through the clouds above

International city perk: A great beer from a micro brewery

Tree-lined street of the French Concession

The date's upside down...ha :)

Fuxing Park, tucked away in the French Concession

Another Int. City Perk: Imports!!!

Xining: Good(and Bad)byes

Xining would be the end of many things for us. Some of these things we knew going in. Others were a disappointing realization.

The first full day in Xining was just that. We woke early and though we were monastaried out, we had already decided the night before that we wanted to go to one more monastery. This one would be special. Not because it is one of the 6 most sacred (though it is) but because it would be our last monastery, our last sightseeing adventure, with Judy and Phil. We had breakfast with them and then all piled into a cab and headed the 30-ish minutes outside of town to the Kumbum Monastery.

It cost us 80Y each for tickets, but it turns out you only needed the ticket in order to get into two specific temples (that we weren’t overly impressed by). The other temples and areas had ticket “scanners” but no one manning them or the person just didn’t seem to really care to scan the tickets. This was a bit annoying since we would have rather just missed the first two temples and saved the money and still saw the rest of it.

Aside from that bit of a grumble, the monastery was very large and fairly impressive. We were surprised and slightly shocked by all the tourists everywhere until it was put into terms that made sense: “This is like the equivalent of the Vatican for Catholics”. Ah, well, that makes a bit more sense now then doesn’t it. We walked all over the entirety of the grounds, stopping at any and everything that we could (had to get that 80Y worth!), and after about 4 hours, we made our way out and back to town.

Once back in Xining, we made our way over to the Dongguan Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque (25Y). It is an interesting mix of Chinese and Muslim architecture styles. We stayed for about 30 minutes or so but decided to leave just after the call to prayer and before they gathered to pray.

We woke early the next morning to say our goodbyes to our new friends and dear travel companions as they were heading out on an early flight to another area of China before heading home. There’s not much that Steve and I will wake up early for, but saying goodbye to Phil and Judy was a worth reason. They are wonderful people and we feel very thankful and blessed to have met them and gotten to travel with them.

Thank you Judy for always using those 10 words of Chinese you know. And Phil, thank you for all the interesting information. Again, you guys are so special and we’re happy to know you and look forward to when our paths may cross again!

The remaining time in Xining was spent catching up (or trying to anyway) on internet stuff and trying to figure out our next move. This is usually the case for us—both being behind on internet type things (emails, blog entries, facebook, etc…) and always needing to figure out our next move since we can’t seem to plan ahead—but this time it was special. This time, we were faced with the obstacle of a 10-day Chinese holiday.

This may not seem like a daunting obstacle to some, but for someone who doesn’t speak any functional Chinese and is trying to get around the country while thousands of other people who do speak Chinese are doing the same, it becomes a challenge. All trains to all destinations we were hoping to go to (farther west) were sold out for 9 to 10 days. Flights to these locations were either sold out or too expensive to stomach or budget. We were stuck and we were getting frustrated. And heartbroken.

We so very badly wanted to go west. I wanted to ride a camel in the desert! Steve wanted to see the strangeness of a place more like a –stan country (Afghanistan, Pakistan, ect.) than like China. We wanted to see the land become dryer and dryer until we could feel the air pulling the moisture from our very skin just to give it some dampness. Heartbroken could possibly an understatement for the sorrow that surrounded us for a full 24 hours as we were forced to come to grips with the fact that plans, hopes, dreams were changing and being abandoned. We could not head west.

Instead, we would go east, by plane. Everything about that sentence sat like a stone in both of our stomachs. But sitting like a stone in Xining, waiting for 10 days for another option wasn’t a workable option either. So, we booked our flight, finished up as much as we could online, packed our bags and went to sleep—still sullen about the disappointment of plans changed, but also anticipating what could now be in store for us because of this new change in going to Shanghai in the morning.

reading sanskrit

pray flags

Tibetan woman and prayer wheels of the monastery

symbolizes Buddist's idea that all religions are different but can work harmoniously together. 

Phil and Judy with us at the monastery

Xining at night

Tongren & Tongkas

After our time in the grasslands we were so looking forward to heading farther west to a place called Tongren. It is famous for the painstakingly detailed, delicately hand-painted pictures of Buddhas called tongkas. Other than this information, we knew little else of Tongren. We foolishly assumed this meant that Tongren was a small town. It’s not. We were noticeably disappointed when the bus rolled to a stop at the station in the middle of this busy city.

Without hesitation we decided to just buy a bus ticket out the following day at noon. That would give us 24 hours to see what we wanted to see and get out. And that’s exactly what we did…after searching for a hotel of course.

Turns out Tongren is much like Lanzhou in that there are many hotels but not many for foreigners. There are two, in fact. Not far from the bus station and right across the street from one another. We selected the cheaper of the two at 220Y, dropped our bags, ate a bit of our food stash, and then headed down to meet up with Phil and Judy in the lobby to head to the monastery to see the tongkas.

There are two monasteries just outside of the city (we actually passed them on the bus on the way in), an upper and a lower. The upper is less touristy, so we started there. We were met by a monk who was extremely kind and generous. He showed us into locked temples and areas and allowed us to take photos even though it was clearly posted that they weren’t permitted. All he asked of us was a donation, if we were inclined to give one. We all agreed that we were and gave him 10Y each. After which he informed us that with this donation we would be able to light a yak butter candle and also two sticks of incense. This monastery visit was worth much more than the 10Y we donated, that’s for sure.

We also got to meet with one of the artists who takes months to hand paint these beautiful tongka creations. He was a fairly young monk who was also very kind and generous with his time and his stories. He told us of some of the hardships that the Tibetan people face at the hand of the Chinese government. It was nearly heartbreaking to watch his kind face fill with sorrow for the acts inflicted on the victims from his tales.

We then headed to the lower temple, but Steve and I didn’t go in as the admission was 30Y and we were already told it was more touristy and the quality of tongkas was lower than that of the upper monastery. So we sat outside the wall of the monastery and talked while we waited for Judy and Phil to walk around inside. After they were finished, we headed back to Tongren for some dinner and then off our separate ways until we would reconvene in the morning to head for the bus station to get our bus to Xining. 

Golden Buddhas outside the Upper Monastery

8 stupas

One of the temples of the Upper Monastery

Golden Buddhas and tongkas inside the temple

Lighting his yak-butter candle

1000 eyed/handed Buddha

Tongkas

in detail

A massive tongka in progress

up close, at work

This is Why We Travel: Ganjia Grasslands

Today’s plan was to take a private car out into the Ganjia Grasslands, about an hour outside of Xiahe. After discussing this idea with Phil and Judy, the four of us decided to all split the costs to head out there. So, after checking at a few places in town, we ended up going through Tara’s Guesthouse who arranged a van and driver, no guide, to take us out into the grasslands for 200 Yuan for 5 hours. A hell of a deal if you ask me, since it was only about $8.50 apiece!  At 9:30, we met our driver outside of Tara’s and piled in to begin the tour.

The Ganjia Grasslands are exactly that, miles and miles of mountainous grasslands where families bring their livestock in the summers to graze while they trail along in their yurts. Sadly, this was not the time of year for the families to be doing this, so we would first make the hour long, very bumpy drive out to a Buddhist monastery we were to visit first, followed by a visit to a 2,000 year old walled in city, and concluding with a visit to Tsewey Monastery.

Arriving at the first monastery, one could have thought it was not a functioning monastery at all. There were no monks walking around, no people wandering about, and little activity occurring. After passing through the entrance, we made our way up to what looked like the main hall, which was not hard to find since it was an extremely small monastery. We were greeted here by a monk who exchanged a smile with all of us, and motioned for us all to go inside the prayer hall. I have to admit, this seemed a little strange to me because it almost felt like this monk didn’t know what to do with us, so he figured he would just usher us inside. Well, with all strangeness and doubts set aside, we all walked under the curtain and over the threshold to step into a warm, dimly lit prayer hall where all the resident monks were sitting, doing their morning chants.

As I had mentioned in the previous blog, we were able to witness chanting at the Labrang Monastery, but this, here in this small monastery, away from any other tourists or city, we were allowed the chance to experience Buddhist chanting in a very, very intimate setting. This was far from the previous day’s experience. This was REAL. This was Buddhist chanting in the rawest form. This was a moment that could never be replaced. There was just the four of us, four outsiders, inside this hall with about 40 other monks, lucky enough to be allowed to experience this divine moment. 

Phil sat silently with his eyes closed, Tamera  watched, Judy walked the room, and I stood and listened. Each of us were moved in our own ways. Words I could give, or descriptions I could paint, would never be able to, nor would I want them to, put the reader in our shoes and experience that. This is why we travel. This is the kind of moment that you can’t find if you never go and experience life around the world. This is why we want to keep going. This is why we are doing what we are doing.

Following the 20-25 minutes we stayed in the hall, and after walking around for a while, we headed back to our van, and drove off to the walled in village. This village is in the middle of the grasslands and surrounded by a dirt wall that keeps the wind out. There is nothing special there, except that you can walk the wall. Our driver pointed us the direction, and we started walking it. Well, after about 15 minutes a young couple came up holding tickets. We didn’t think we had to buy tickets, and they wanted 80 Yuan for all of us! Thankfully, Judy, who spoke 10 words of Chinese, stepped up, and after debating for a while, talked them down to 40 Yuan so they would leave us alone and we could just leave.

After our driver returned to pick us up, we headed over to Tsewey Monastery. This was just another monastery, a bit larger than the first one we went to, and so suffice to say, we didn’t stay all that long. We did some walking around, saw the buildings, and Tamera, Phil and Judy climbed up a large hill overlooking the monastery that contained a number of prayer flags, to take some photos of the monastery. Finally, after a long 4 hours of being out in the grasslands, we headed back to Xiahe and ended the day.

All in all, visiting the Ganjia Grasslands was a highlight for us. The van ride in itself with the insanely beautiful scenery was enough to call it good, but the chance to witness Buddhist Monks chanting made the day anything but ordinary. A successful day I think. A moving day to say the least.  

the grassland

misty day full of hidden surprises

golden prayer wheels

On the wall of the ancient city

prayer flags blowing in the wind

prayer flags

from the top of the hill

After the climb. 

Monks, Monasteries, & Lasting Impressions

Following a western breakfast of eggs and toast at the Snowy Mountain Cafe, we began the day by heading over to the Labrang Monastery to take the 10:30 tour for 40 Yuan apiece. The Labrang Monastery is one of the 6 great monasteries for Tibetan Buddhism, while also being the home to the largest number of monks outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. So, I think it is safe to say that we were as close to Tibet as we could get.

The English tour was given by a resident monk, who found it quite funny that none of the 20 or so tour participants could understand his jokes. We were able to see a number of the 18 various halls, the medical institute, and a museum containing many Buddhist relics. This was all great, but as many of you know, neither of us are big on tours. However, this tour allowed us to experience Buddhism up close. The moment that this tour turned from a room to room, history education tour was when we stepped into the main prayer hall where around 100 monks were all sitting doing their daily morning chants. Words cannot describe the essence of experiencing this firsthand. I, like many of you I am sure, have seen this in movies or read about it in books, but until you see and hear and FEEL this firsthand, you will never be able to fully grasp the serenity in this. This was exactly what we had hoped to experience coming to this part of China. Sadly, after about 10 minutes, we were ushered out of the hall, where we ended our tour.  The 2-hour tour was exceptional, but the chance to see the monks all chanting was what made the tour so special.

Following another meal at Gesar, and a little nap, we decided to take advantage of the rest of the day and venture west of the monastery into the other side of Xiahe, where tourists hardly venture out to. We were hoping to find the “real” life of the people who live there, away from the tourist areas, even though there is relatively no touristy area in Xiahe. Our venture to this side proved to be worthwhile. We were greeted by a number of school children passing us in the road who all wanted to test out their best “Hello’s” and waves as we walked by. We even acquired a following of 3 boys who tagged along as we walked through town snapping photos. Finally, as the sun was setting, we asked our followers if the wanted a picture, which they HAD to look at and laugh, and turned around to make it back before dark. Making our way back, we had to dodge some traffic, as the local yaks made their way down the street back to their homes.

Tomorrow would bring another day of adventure, grassland style.

Sanskrit Medical Books