Yushu was a pretty funky town. Again, we met a lot of interesting characters and found ourselves in a lot of interesting situations.
The town reminded me of Xiahe prior to the events of last year.
Tibet: Flora & Fauna
From Xining
Xining
Em and I have been resting in Xining for the past few days. Both of us had a bit of a bug and thought it was best to recoup before moving on to higher altitude.
I have always been quite fond of Xining. The laid back atmosphere and the interesting mix of ethnic groups make this city a fantastic little city (only 2 million people) to hang out in.
Plus, the city’s Halal restaurants are excellent.
From Xiahe
Xiahe
Zoige
As part of our detour, we had to loop our way east, into Xiahe (Gansu Province) via the “wild west” town Zoige.
Though unplanned, the detour led Em and I into a series of pleasant surprises, including the chance to interact with some fascinating personalities.
Traveling puts many things into perspective. I’m constantly humbled by the kindness of strangers.
From Jiuzhaigou
Mirror Lake, Jiuzhaigou
I’m on the road again. Again, I’m in western China, this time traveling with my Hong Kong friend, Emily.
One of our first stops is in Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan Province. This time of year, the park is beautiful. Primordial alpine forests with fall color leaves, snow capped mountains, turquoise lake, and not AS many tourists as the park normally sees in the high season.
It’s a little piece of heaven on earth.
It’s Good to be Back!!
Shangri-la Cowboy
In preparation for the October 1 60th anniversary of China’s Communist Party, the government decided to step up its security measures on the interweb. I was already accessing most western websites with trusty Hot Spot Shield (a free VPN service). Then one day, I woke up, tried to sign on, and discovered that they [the internet Nazis] killed Hot Spot Shield.
Now, after what seemed like forever without Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress access, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a subscription VPN service. I’m fawning over it right now. It’s fantastic.
And it feels so friggin’ good to feel connected again!!
From Qingdao
Qingdao
Qingdao was a lovely city to spend an Autumn weekend.
The weather was perfect – almost too perfect, the sailing was fun (provided if there was enough wind), and the seafood was fantastic. I never thought my first sailing experience would be with two middle-aged Italians in Qingdao, accompanied with music from Sting.
Two thumbs up all-around.
The Yak That Almost Killed Me
The yak that almost killed me
Animals and I were not friends of mine, nor really anyone else I met, on this past trip through Yunnan.
In Lijiang, I got charged by a yak while visiting Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
I also met a girl who got attacked by a group of monkeys on Emei Shan, as well as an Italian woman who got bitten by a group of stray dogs in northern Sichuan. While we were in Shangri-la, a girl I was traveling with for the day also got bitten by a billy goat.
So let’s not forget how dangerous animals can be!
From Nansan
Refugees
Halfway through my trip through Yunnan and Sichuan, I made a detour. From eastern Sichuan, I traveled almost non-stop for 2 days to reach southern Yunnan, next to China’s boarder with Myanmar.
I posted a link in a previous entry to the GlobalPost, which published a gallery of my pictures from southern Yunnan. Here is another picture that did not make the edit.
The problem with visiting refugee camps first thing in the morning is that you feel like you need a beer by 9am.
From Somewhere in Sichuan
Fellow stuck people
As I mentioned in my previous post, rural mountain road conditions in China can be precarious at best. Take, for example, my ride from Daocheng back to Shangri-la. About 4 hours into the 13 hour bus ride, we passed through a recent landslide area. Somewhere along the way, a huge piece of rock was jutting into the middle of the road. My driver skillfully maneuvered the first half of the bus through with no problem. Then his cell phone rang. Of course, he picked it up. That was when the second half of our bus rammed into huge rock jutting into the middle of the road. The result (as far as my naked eyes can tell) was a broken axle and both sides of the back wheels being completely misaligned. We were very lucky to not have careened off the narrow road (that had no shoulders to protect us) into the valley a few hundred meters below us.
Even more stuck
Having established everyone was OK, the next problem was to figure out what to do with the bus. The driver and his helpers could not have abandoned it in the middle of the road and the idea of a toll truck was a mere fantasy. Plus, being a one lane road, we were causing a traffic jam. This left only one option: to try to fix the bus. But with what? Thankfully, being a creative bunch, the driver and whoever was helping him decided to leverage our surrounding natural resources. This meant chipping off hunks of rock and using that as a hammer to bend our rim (also busted) back into shape and using a wood chopper to get at pieces of wood (I have no idea what for).
In the end, the driver decided that the bus was suitable enough to once again carry passengers. Having done the same route a few days before, I knew that we still had a 4,000 meter high pass ahead of us, as well as a really sludgy mud pass. That in mind, it was an easy decision for me when I decided to drop a bit more money and hire a private car with some fellow travelers. Plus, you know it’s pretty bad when even some of the Chinese passengers refused to get on the bus.
The best part of this story? At least we were stuck in some pretty damn stunning scenery!!
What was below us
Sheila Takes Pictures 