Blogs from Gansu, China, Asia - page 21

A day full of surprises Okay so when I got up and looked out the window something didn't look quite right, so I opened the door and stepped outside into the snow. Yeah, it snowed over night, its kind of cold here. Anyway, after the excitement of the snow wore off it was off to the monastery with a French guy I met the night before, we were to take a tour of the monastery with a monk who spoke English. The Labrang Monastery in Xiahe is ranked as one of the 6 glorious monasteries of the yellow hat sect of Buddhism and is the home the third highest ranking Lama in all of Tibetan Buddhism. During a certain period of China's history (which cannot be mentioned on the internet), a lot of the monastery was ... read more

Plans change, deal with it REPOST: I neglected to mention that the night before, in Xian, I went to a sound and light show at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and it was amazing. Then as we wandered back towards our hostel we came across a heaps of people doing exercises and dances, all following someone with an umbrella and waving fans to te beat of massive drums being played. It was really a good way to end a great day at the warriors. Had my first rough day today. I had booked a ticket to Lanzhou, nothing really there its just a stopping point to catch another train or bus. From here I was planning to catch a bus to two small towns; Xiahe and Langmusi - small Tibetan monastery towns that used to be ... read more

Dag allemaal, Na Langmusi zijn we naar Xiahe getrokken. Om zeven uur 's morgens in de vrieskou een overvolle bus genomen naar Xiahe. Er waren geen zitplaatsen meer dus moesten Yves en ik (met andere Tibetanen en Chinezen) in het gangpad zitten, verstopt voor eventuele wegcontroles onderweg. Hoewel de rit maar drie uur duurde was het een van de minst aangename die we al gedaan hebben. Ik had weer eens migraine en zat misselijk met mijn plastiek zakske klaar op de grond. De verstikkende lucht in de bus en de penetrante geuren van zure yakboter en pas opgestoken sigaretten hielpen natuurlijk ook niet. Toen de vrouw naast mij begon over te geven moest ik mijn uiterste best doen om ook niet mijn zakje te vullen met mijn ontbijt... De rit ging traag want het was aan ... read more

so, the journey continues...... yesterday was another lovely day in xiahe. i grew to really like that town in the short amount of time we spent there. only about two or three days, but it was great. people were pretty nice (although i've become really paranoid about thieves and so forth as i hear more horror stories. i've gotten really cynical about talking to small children, which is a necessity i hate. they're taught so young to hit you up for money, and they seem to be at an ideal level to slip their little hands into your pockets), and there was so much colour and life. so very different to anything i've seen so far. i think it's safe to say i've enjoyed my experiences with tibetan culture so far. we got up at a ... read more

Xiahe... a long way from Jiayuguan: 10 hours of snoring men and screaming children, some meaty vegetarian dumplings in Lanzhou and a 6 hour busride to 3000m above sea level - the Tibetan Plateau, and we're in Xiahe. It feels like a different country. The bus station is in the East of the town, and one long road of shops and houses stretches west until it arrives at Labulang Lamasery, the largest Tibetan Monastery outside Lhasa. The streets are even more chaotic than usual, three wheeled bike/trucks that sound more like tractors zoom up and down, the ubiquitous green taxis beep their way through the pedestrians, donkey carts tethered to electricity poles, and people walking everywhere. We and the two other Australians we met on the bus took a 3-wheeler straight to the hostel recommended by ... read more