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

From a Secret to a Dream Come True: Lanzhou to Xiahe

We awoke this morning to leave our extra expensive, exclusive hotel to catch a taxi to the bus station and make our way to Xiahe (like a j/z sound in front of "shy" and like asking "what?" j/zhy-hu), where the Labrang Monastery waited. After bargaining our taxi down in price, we rode over to Lanzhou South bus station for our 9:30 bus. Upon arrival, we walked up to the station where we were greeted by a man asking if we were heading to Xiahe, which of course we were, and he pointed us in the direction of the “ticket counter,” where he ordered the worker to hand us over 2 tickets to Xiahe for under 100 Yuan. For once, simplicity was on our side.

We had a bit of time to kill before our bus left, so we grabbed some seats in the station to wait. Along with the simplicity, luck allowed us to run into some fellow travelers from San Francisco while waiting for the bus (fellow "Canadians"). Turned out they were also heading to Xiahe. After some small talk, we boarded the bus to start the 4 hour journey southwest to Xiahe.

The bus ride was anything from mundane. First off, the route had us going up from 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) through the mountains so that we could reach the 3000 meter (10,000feet) city. Second, we passed along some of the most impressive scenery we had yet to encounter in China. Mountains rose up from all sides of the bus, towering over us as we speedily made out way. I say speedily because our bus driver thought it necessary to use his lead foot and pass anything he could to get us there. This was to be our first encounter with insane bus driving, but that is for later. Finally we made it into Xiahe at about 2:30pm where we were dropped off on the side of the road. The next mission was to find a place to stay.

A mosque in the distance

Shortly after we had been standing there looking confused and lost, our San Francisco friends (Phil and Judy would be their names) and the two of us decided to team up and search out some hotels. After checking out the Overseas Tibetan Hotel (160 Yuan/night), the RedRock Hostel (120 Yuan/night), Tara’s Guesthouse (160 Yuan/night) and the Labrang Hotel (200 Yuan/night), we decided to stay at the Labrang simply for the fact that the rooms had bathrooms and the mattresses were not rock hard.

After throwing our bags in the room, we set out to explore this Tibetan city. And Tibetan it was! I am not just talking about the architecture, or the food, or the people, but EVERYTHING. This was the Tibet we had wanted to go to, but could not because of the permit restrictions and price. Monks were walking down the street in their maroon robes and shaved heads. Kids with dark red cheeks were running on the sidewalks. Women wearing traditional chubas sat outside their stores waiting for customers. Men raced past on their dual-sport motorcycles. All of this was right outside our hotel; not to mention the Labrong Monastery sitting a block away from the hotel as well. This is what we had hoped for, and the Tibet we were looking for was what we found.

After a while of “window” shopping (there are not windows for these stores, merely their merchandise is out on the sidewalks) we searched out some food. Gesar Restaurant (located across from the prayer wheels, next to the Nomad Café) was where we landed. This was a small, two person run restaurant that contained a small room where all guests can enjoy their food. Traditional would barely be able to begin to describe this quaint restaurant. We quickly ordered our 5 dishes, and waited. One by one they came out, and by “one by one” I mean that exactly. Everything was made fresh and in order of when it was written down. So fresh was it, that the beautiful lady running the place went out to grab a cucumber to make our cucumber and garlic plate. After stuffing our faces, talking with the guy also working who spoke perfect English, we made our way back to the hotel for the night. Tomorrow would bring Buddhism and the Labrang Monastery. 

Shh...It's a Secret: Lanzhou ❤s Foreigners

When we went to purchase our train tickets from Xi’an to Lanzhou, we were told the train we requested (a fast, D-train of about 6 hours) was no longer available, so she gave us tickets on a slightly later, slightly longer train. No big deal, 8 hours vs 6 wouldn’t make much of a difference, we figured. Well, we figured wrong. We had opted for seats instead of sleepers, since it was a day train. There were no soft seats, only hard. Hard seats on a train means either 3 seats or 2 seats facing 3 or 2 other seats, which are bolted to another set of seats that are then facing another set of seats. So, basically, you are sitting completely upright, with a very thin bit of padding under you, facing your travel companions.

Peace out crappy train..and fellow travelers

Strength to survive!

Not to mention the lack of luggage storage overhead, so one of our backpacks had to go under the seat, but there is a metal bar in the center of the set of seats, preventing the bag from going fully under the seats, so it was sticking out where our feet should have been. Steve was knee to knee with the Chinese guy across from him. The toilets were the worst we’ve encountered on a train thus far. And, the train was an hour and a half late arriving, and took over 9 hours instead of the 8 hours it was supposed to. All and all, this was the absolute worst transport experience to date. We were so incredibly uncomfortable the entire time.

We luckily knew ahead of time that there was only one hotel in Lanzhou that accepts foreigners, so we asked one of the staff at the Han Tang House in Xi’an to call ahead for us and reserve a room. It's popular chain hotel in China called the Jinjang Inn. It's pretty close to the train station, though easiest just to take a cab. The price of the room reflected the exclusivity: 240Y a night. (We were informed, on the hush hush, that the largest secret military base/training facility in China is located here) But the plus side is that just around the corner from the hotel (out the front doors, take a left, another left at the corner, cross the street—this should be at the cinema—then a right at the first side street you come to) are a couple of great street-food stands. We got some of the best noodle bowls for 7 yuan each! He put lots of fresh veggies in, as well as a bunch of different spices and sauces, and had 2 different types of noodles. It was a fantastic dinner.

Stuffed crust veggie pizza. YUM!

The other good news is that the 500^th Pizza Hut in China is in Lanzhou (but there are no McDonalds), so we had to check it out. Turns out the Chinese have Americans beat when it comes to stuffed crust pizza! I know this is blasphemy, given that I come from the ICT, but...it's true. It was pretty expensive, but we thought we’d splurge since this would probably be our last Western meal for a while.

Other than eating and sleeping, we don’t have much to report about Lanzhou. I’m sure there are things to do, but after a semi busy time in Xi’an, and a horrible train ride, we were ready to do not much of anything for a day. So we gladly rested and headed over to the bus station somewhat early to catch the 9:30am bus to Xiahe (like ‘shy’ but with a ‘z’ zhy-hu).

Came for the Warriors, Stayed for the Mountain: Huashan

The next day, we got up early and made our way to Xi’an North train station to get the 40-minute train to Huashan Mountain. It must be said here that this train station is AMAZING. It is brand new, and boy you can tell it! It is the last stop on the in-progress subway line 2.

***note here that the ticket machines sometimes work and sometimes don’t when it comes to taking bills, so have some 1Y coins on hand if you want to take the subway. Starts at 2Y and if you want to go pretty much from one end to the other, it will cost you 3Y. You can get change from the ticket booths, but the lines can be long, so best to have some on hand so you can use the auto-ticket machines.***

Xi’an North is also the biggest train station in China. It felt more like an airport than a train station when we arrived. Once on the train we could not stop commenting on how nice it was. We were sad that this would be our shortest and cheapest train ride (35Y) probably the whole time we are here.

Which way do we go George, which way do we go?

Good eye Steve. Look out!!

In 40 short minutes, we arrived at Huashan train station and got our rip-off of a taxi ride (30Y, but he started at 40Y) to the west gate to start our climb. After some debate as to whether this was in fact the way we really wanted to go and some help from an English speaking parking attendant, we started our hike around 1pm. We reached the first peak, North Peak, around 4:30pm. After a break, we began making our way to West peak for the sunset.

Made it for sunset

We made it just in time! It was beautiful. As dusk set in, we began our trek towards South Peak. It was dark, the path was unlit, and it was cold when we finally reached what we thought was South Peak and a guesthouse to stay in for the night. They had no beds, but we could sleep in a tent for 100Y (about 35US). No thanks. It was COLD! So we kept going. But we made a wrong turn and ended up not at South peak, but back at the fork in the path from West, to East and South.

The "hotel" by daylight, after a not-so-restful night

After asking another hiker, we found out that South Peak was not safe to be hiking at night, so best to head to East Peak and find shelter for the night, then get up for the sunrise and try for South Peak after the sun was up, so that’s what we did. We got a bunk for 100 yuan p/p at a “hotel” just before East Peak, facing east. Though it wasn’t late when we arrived (maybe 8:30pm) we were so tired from all the hiking of the day, so after some hot water and hot ramen, we turned in just after 9pm so we could wake up at 5am for the sunrise. The mattresses were rock hard though, so though we went to bed early, we didn't get much rest at all and 5am fell harshly upon weary, unrested bodies.

Dawn

We were mislead as to how long the hike would be to get to East Peak from where we were, as well as what time the sun was actually coming up. So between the two miscalculations, we were about 25 mins early to East Peak…which might not sound bad, but with 30mph wind gusts and just barely above freezing temps (ok, maybe it was closer to 40 than 32, but whatever) 25 mins seemed like an eternity! But it was well worth it. We ended up getting a sweet spot, above the assembling masses, so we could very clearly see the sun come up. It was beautiful. I can say, this was my first sunset and sunrise viewing on a mountain peak, back to back.

There it is! We've been waiting for you!!

Well, that was worth it.

Still rising.

The day has fully begun now.

After a bit of a warming up time back in our bunk, we headed out to South Peak, the highest peak. We got some photos, took in what we had just done and seen in the last 20 hours, and then we began our decent. It only took about an hour or so to get to North Peak from South Peak, but our legs were shot and we were tired, so we opted for the cable car down. Then it was back to the train station and on our way to Xi’an. Needless to say, we slept really well that night! Which was good because the next morning brought with it yet another train, this time to Lanzhou. We weren’t quite ready to leave Xi’an, but this train would mean that we would officially be on the Silk Road; a very exciting prospect.

At the top--South Peak

Gold locks & Red cloth strips for good luck

Made it! The highest peak--South Peak

Gold locks for sale

Special tree tied with red cloth for luck

Another tree growing out of the rock

To sum up Xi’an I would have to say, what we came there for was the Terra Cotta Warriors. What we found was a beautiful mountain hike and a lovely city, much slower and kinder than Beijing was for us. The mountain topped the Warriors, and even the Great Wall in beauty and awe-inspiring effect, hands down, making Xi’an and Huashan, our highlights of the trip thus far.