Ka mes pagarinajm vizas

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July 6th 2007

Published: August 9th 2007

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Brass Monkeys

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Ka mes pagarinajm vizas
Asia » China » Sichuan » Western Sichuan Northern Yunnan By Brass Monkeys
July 6th 2007
Steven & Lelde
Steven & Lelde
Just having fun.
Just having fun.
tribe of local kids, Litang
/Lelde/
tatad ir piekdiena un galigi neplanoti esam atpakalj Kandiga. Aizvakar agri sho vietu pametam, lai vairs neatgrieztos, bet, ka redzams, dazhreiz notikumi njem neplanotu gultni. Ka jau ieprieksh mineju, musu viza beidzas 8-ja Julija. Bijam nolemushi to pagarinat viena no nakamajm apstashanas vietam, tikai lieta tada, ka pilnigi nesasmadzenjojam, ka ir tada lieta ka nedeljas nogales, kad oficialas valsts iestades nestrada.... Viss jau butu vel izdevies ka planots, bet vakar uz autobusu, ko gribejam "panjem", lai nokljutu uz citu pilsetinu un pecak no turienes uz nakamo, kur nodarbojas ar vizu shtellem, netikam, jo visas vietas jau bija aiznjemtas😞 A laika galigi atlicis maz, jo nakama diena (shodiena) butu piektdiena un un musu pedeja izdeviba nebut valsti nelegali. Pie kam sods par katru dienu var sasniegt lidz 500juanam!!! Tad nu pats optimalakais variants bija shorit sesties cita autobusa atpakalj uz Kandingu (vakar jau bija pa velu un autobusi uz shejieni vairs nekurseja). Autobuss iebrauc pilseta aptuveni 15.00 pecpusdiena, bet Policijas offisi taisas ciet

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plks.17.30. Viena laba liet, atjaunojot vizas mazas pilsetinjas ir, ka tas ir izdarams stundas laika, ja nav parak daudz iesnieguma formas ko izskatit. Tad nu pa taisno ar taxi devamies uz biroju...Un pec paris saspringtam stundam, skrienot uz
Water powered prayer wheels on the road to Litang
Water powered prayer wheels on the road to Litang
hosteli pec zimoga, kopet dokumentus, uz banku maksat rekjinu, mums plkst.17.10 izsniedz jaunas vizas!!!!! Super! Bet nu lidz ar nagiem!!!!!! Pec idejas esam zaudejushi dienu vaoi divas, ka ari sanaca neplanoti papildizdevumi dodoties atpakalj, bet viss ir ok, jo tas pilniba atsver visu hernju, kas veretu sanakt, ja nepagutu pagarinat vizas. Ta ka tagad jutos ljoti atvieglota! Ka ari shi vieta man patik un hostelitis ir brinumjauks (internets pie kam pa brivu!!!😊) untad nu mes paliksim te vel ritdienu un tad atkal merosim to pashu celju atpaklj, bet shoreiz vel talak ta ka autobusa sanaks sedet kadas stundas 14.

Litanga, kur apstajamies, ne ar ko ipashu neizcelas, bet ta ka Stivens nez kapec to ljoti gribeja redzet (tapec, ka ta ir ljoti tibetiska vieta), tad nu tur sanaca pavadit divas dienas (otro gan piespiedu karta, jo nedabujam autobusu, ko gribejam). Palikam ljoti leta

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hosteliti 15 juanas pa nakti no personas, istabinja ljoti maza un vieta tada patumsha, betona grida visur, tolete ne parak omuliga (dusha gan bija laba), bet visa visuma bija tiri ok. Abas naktis gan nevareju kartigi izguleties, jo tur palika ari pashi vietejie un uzvedas vinju nu baigi bravurigi, varbut ari tas kaut ka savienojas ar
Pavement life, Litang.
Pavement life, Litang.
After our attemps earlier in the trip to photgraph Tibetans, this candid approach seems to work well.
kulturu, nezinu, bet staigaja bljaudami, neskatoties kada nakts/rita stunda ir, klape durvis, televizoru uz sklaljo (ja, ari mums istabinja bija TV). Man paris reizes gribejas iet ara unlamaties, bet tad es isti nezinaju, ka vinji uz to reagjetu, saprastu un pieklustu vai pilniba ignoretu un nesapratu par ko es "strjomoju".
Viena laba lieta ir ta, ka es dabuju nofotografet savus tibetieshu motociklistus!😊 Cilveki vispar tajos mazajos miestos, pilsteles (varu gan runat tikai par tiem pie Tibetas robezhas, ko apmeklejam) nesa tik krashnjas un interesantas drebes, rotas. Tibetieshi vispar ir daudz izskatigaki par kjinieshiem, mana uztvere. Virieshiem parasti ir pusgari mati un dazhi no vinjiem nesa tos sasietus ar tadu ka sarkanu lentu ap galvu un rotajumiem! Nu baigi pievilcigi!!! Diemzhel bildi

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ar tadu es nebuju. Pagaidam. Un sievietes ar, protams, ir spilgtas un krashnjas. Vinji vispar nesa tradicionalas drebes vairakums, ka ari veikalos tradicionalais apgjerbs tiek tirgots vairuma. Eiropa es nevaru iedomaties nevienu vietu, kur iedzivotaji regulari nesatu tradicionalas uzpariktes!!!

Vel japiemin, runajot principa par Kjinu, ka parsvara neviena vieta, ar retiem iznjemumiem, hotelis vai hostelis, nemaz nerunajot par publiskajam toaletem, vinjiem nav toaletes papirs. Ta ka vienmer ir janesa lidzi savas! Nu, protams, veikalos to pardod😊

Litanga,
Street scene Litang.
Street scene Litang.
starp citu, parak auksts nebija, neskatoties, ka pilseta trodas 400m virs juras limenja, ka ari altitudes problemas nesagadaja. Celja uz turieni ainavas protams burvigas. Mums bus iespeja to visu pamatigi apskatit 3 reizes😊), Divas no tam jau tika izmantotas un parit atkal mes dosimies uz to pusi pa to pashu celju.
Mani joprojam parsteidz un shoke un ljoti skumdina, lai gan Kjina esmu menesi, vinju ieradumi visu mest uz gridas/zemes. Autbuss pec brauciena izskatas ka kara lauks. Baisi! Un tapec jau ari visas vinju publiskas vai privatas vietas ir tik shmucigas, jo vinjus tas nesatrauc un nav jau ari laikam baigas jegas tirit un berzt un spodrinat, ja zini, ka pec 5 min.atkal telpa tiks

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piespljauta, piemeslota un notashkjita.....
Ai, ka man shodien gribejas bieshu zupu ar etikji un rupjmaiziti!!! Mumiti, man pietrukst Tevis gatavotie jaukie edieni. Sakuma, kad redzeju rietumniekus edam Rietumnieku edienu (western food) "shkjaudijos" un nevareju uztvert kapec jaed ediens, ko var dabut majas, kad esi Kjina, kur vinjiem ir fantastiskas maltites!! Bet nu brizhiem jau nu baigi GRIBAS kau tko vairak pierastu un pazistamu. Piemeram, picu!!! Bet picas, salidzinoshi ir dikti dargas (ap.30juanam, kas ir apm2 LVL un varbut nav tik daudz, bet, kad pretnostati ko
Tibetan building, Litang.
Tibetan building, Litang.
Outside the towns, their homes resemble little fortresses.Hope to add more pics. of the journey between Kanding and Litang- Tomorrow(10th July) we are making this journey for the 3rd time!
par to summu var dabut vieteja bufete.... Tad nu pagaidam tikai dzivojam uz Kjinieshu edieniem.😊
Ka jau, Ilzite, Tu pareizi noveroji, citreiz es pierakstu kaut ko klaty jau publicetam raxtam velak, jo visu uzreiz jau nevar "izlikt", ta ka ir verts citreiz parchekot jau lasito.
Ok, driz droshvien ari sekos bildes un moshka vel kas! Un, ludzu, raxtiet man ar! Man tik LJOTI, LJOTI patik sanjemt zinjas no majam un zinat, kas notiek, pat, ja varbut, jusu skatijuma, tas

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nav nekas parak ipashs! Prieksh manis IR!!!!!!!!! Buchas un lai visiem Jums jaukas vasaras dienas!
Viena ljoti jauka lieta, ko es noveroju Litanga ir tas, ka virieshu kartas parstavji nereti staiga kopa, sadevushies rokas vai pat apskavushies. Un ne delj seksualas orientacijas, jo Kjina ir diezgan homofobiska valsts. Ta ir ista draudzibas un tuvibas izpausme, ko diemzhel musu virieshi nesanjem un lidz ar to, manuprat, liedz sev ko ljoti butisku. Bet vai tad macho vecis var atljauties shadu prestizhu? 😊

/lelde- eng.ver/ (07.07.07)
WE are again busy with "nothing doing" 😊) And we are back in Kanding as well - the best place for nothing doing �ut lets start from the beginning. So we didn't plan at all to come
Bikers.
Bikers.
Kampa people( those tibetans living in areas of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan) are the real cowboys!
all the way from Litang back here (it's an 8 hour journey after all), but as we couldn't get a bus to the next place and afterwards from that place to another one, where we would be able to extend our visas, we had no choice but to return...It was quite a rush as we arrived here on friday afternoon (yesterday)

Water pipes.

These are all over the place, next to the road side- gravity fed.

and the PSB (public security bureau) closes at 5.30pm and doesn't work on weekends, we had only 2hours to get the visas extended. They can fine you if you overstay the time 500yuan per day. Usually it takes 5 days to get it in big citys, but in a small one you can usually do it in an hour. The only reason we left it for so long was that we completely forgot that such a thing as weekends exist 😊 Anyways, everything worked out well and we recieved our new visa at 5.10pm - in the nick of time!!!! I felt so relieved!!!!! And it even didn't bother me that much that we had to come back and therefore loose time and money as we could have got into bigger trouble and loosing even more money.
After all
The scenery from Kanding to Litang.
The scenery from Kanding to Litang.
this rushing we decided to stay 2 days here to relax a bit, but, as we couldn't get any tickets to continue our travel tomorrow, we will have to stay here 3 days.
Litang , in my opinion, wasn't that special at all, God knows why Steven insisted on

The tibetan guesthouse in Xiangcheng.

stopping there. Well it's rather Tibetan and is located 4000m above sea level. Very colourful and traditional costumes people still wearing there. They stare at you and we stare at them - I guess we are are fascinated by each other looks and oddness 😊 Many people on a street greet us. The most popular (and usually the only one to attract attension) is "Hello", sometimes (but rarely) follows other english words as "Ok?", "How are you?", they don't expect you to answer or strart to communicate as thats all they know. It's still nice, especially when little kids are talking to you and have this big smile on their faces!😊
I still can't get used to all the negligance towards their environment- rubbish all around, spitting etc., even though it's been a month since I'm in China.
The little dog Lifu got sick today - must have eaten something -
Water pipes.
Water pipes.
These are all over the place, next to the road side- gravity fed.
poor thing. But a doctor came and he seems better now. He is so cute!!!!
We are still actively (well, more or less) looking for work in China, buit it seems it

Window detail.

At the guesthouse.

won't be a problem as all the travelers who thought here assurred (what we already suspeccted) that there are planty of work out here and they looking for english teachers a lot. As we would like to teach in Yuannan province, in little town Dali, then we are determined to stay quite a bit time and seriously look for some job, when we're there. Fingers crossed!
Thank you for your comments - it's really cool to recieve some feed back from you and if you have any questions about anything (to do with our trip😊) - ask! As it's not that easy anymore with "a fresh eye" to know what kind of details you would lke to know as we are moore or less used to life here therfore leaving some stuff out as for us it may seem natural. I hope I make any sense here 😉 We will reply for sure, just check comments. Michael, it was very nice to hear from you at last. Steven
Rocky.
Rocky.
Afetr Litang, the scenery becomes rocky fo a period, including areas of gigneous rock and then slate and back again.
really misses you! I hope you and Pam are enjoying

Prayer flags

On the road between Litang and Xiangcheng.

this summer! And I hope that wasn't the only message you were planning to write😊)) As you can guess, we are expecting you to get in touch more often!😊 Could you also send your email address???Yes, please😊
Ok, I quess that's it for now!

(18/07/2007)
just remembered a really nice thing I wanted to mention from our visit to Litang - I saw men, boys holding each other hands or hugging each other, walking on the street arms around each other - so friendly so close!!! I was surprised - very pleasantly! I think our men are lacking this sort of intimacy with their own gender as they stupidly believe that 's something gayish or unappropriate!!!
I think I will cut Steven's hair now and then we'll go for some lunch - I've discovered a really nice place where , when you order fried noodles with vegetables, they really are fried (not in a soup) and with vegetables instead of only spring onions and salad leaves!!!! It's delicious!!!! and then we might walk up to some mountains 😊)
Tomorrow early - 6am- we're taking a bus to Xiangcheng (a
Prayer flags
Prayer flags
On the road between Litang and

Tibetan homes.

really like little castles.

Xiangcheng.
border town).
Even though I have been here already a month I'm not picking up the language that much, which is strange as usually I'm good with languages.

Steven/
Just some rembrances on the trip between Kanding and Zhongdian. As you know we travelled the 8 hr journey to Litang, only to return a couple of days later as we got stuck in Litang- having no computerised ticketing system, they only know whether there will be seats available on the through bus when it arrives each day. The journey back to Kanding was amusing and horrendous in equal measures. The bus was really clapped out, making the journey the most bumpy of the travel yet. The occupants of the bus were half foreigners and half locals, which suggests that this back door route between the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan is more popular when made from South to North(we travelled in the opposite direction).It was memorable because, about a third of the way in two of the Westerners' who sat behind us collapsed in fits of laughter and it turns out that their seat had completely disconnected from the floor, leaving them sitting amongst bags at the back

Valley.

The road to Xiangcheng was hair-raising and beatiful in equal measures, with high passes, steep valleys( the road winds and bends whilst hugging the cliff face), where there are Tibetan homes and terraced, golden fields where they grow barley. Only afraid that these pictures, taken from the moving bus do not do it justice.

on
Tibetan homes.
Tibetan homes.
really like little castles.
cushions. Appart from this, there was the usual smoking and spitting as well as littering and an array of gross looking snack foods being consummed( eg. chicken legs).

After getting our visa extentions in Kandging we got the bus to Xiangcheng, this time bypassing Litang. The journey from Litang to Xiangcheng was a scenic beauty, taking us through deep valleys with Tibetan villages where they grow alot of barley in terraced fields, with a fast flownig, clear river below.
We were greated at the bus station in Xiangcheng by an elderly Tibetan lady holding a sign in clear English which advertised the benefits of her guesthouse, making this an easy choice. The gusethouse( Banmu Tibetan Guesthouse) was 50m away from the bus staion, through a garden and was a a large traditional Tibetan home- whitewashed with intricate woodwork around the windows. We had a tasty dinner in the guestroom(we were the only guests), which was highly and colourfully decorated from floor to ceiling.
It was another early start the next day with a bus to Zhongdian in Yunnan. This took us high up into the clouds and through several very

The scenery from Kanding to Litang.

high passes, marked with prayer flags,
The tibetan guesthouse in Xiangcheng.
The tibetan guesthouse in Xiangcheng.
at which the Tibetan let out a high yip when we passed.
More pics to come...

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