Sichuan


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June 3rd 2011
Published: June 7th 2011
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We left Shangri La at 8am, arriving at the bus station a good 3 minutes before it was meant to leave. There was also an Austrian couple and an Israeli couple on the bus so we took up almost half of the small bus. I ended up with possibly the worst seat ever, in the back corner with absolutely no leg room at all! My knees were poking through the seat infront of me into Marianes back the whole way. After the first break I was just commenting on how good the road was when we hit the rough dirt track and spent the rest of the 8 hour trip being thrown of our seats and landing with a painful twang up your back. These small local buses are also full of Chinese men doing the hark spit and smoking. I felt like I was back in Indonesia and want to get t-shirts printed for people to wear on buses that say in Chinese: Don't smoke in enclosed spaces you inconsiderate morons! Because I couldn't handle the heat or smoke I had my window open the whole time which meant I was also completely covered in dust. It was a really beautiful bus ride though, thats why I decided to take this extra long route.

We arrived in Xiangcheng where the bus terminates and had the wait until the next morning for a bus to Litang. We stayed just above the bus station but they would not let us buy tickets to Litang until the morning. The ticket office was open but the attendant was too busy playing cards. We had an early dinner together then a few of us walked up to the monastery just out of town which also had nice views of the surrounding area and villages near by. The town itself was quite modern and ugly but had a nice feel to it with lots of locals walking and not much traffic or honking.

We got up and down to the bus station by 5:15am to buy tickets for the bus. It turns out the office doesn't open until 5:30 but the attendant didn't arrive until 10 to 6 and our bus was leaving at 6am. All the locals (who already had tickets of course) were already on the bus but there were seats left so they eventually let us buy tickets and get on. This bus raced to Litang without a single break and we arrived at 10:30am which meant we had the whole day. Litang and the surrounding area is really beautiful. Its at an altitude of 4000m but its increadibly flat with hills and mountains surrounding it. We spent the day walking round town, going to the monastery, and walking up the hills behind the monastery (well I did, Mariane and Amandine stopped about half way because of breathing issues). I was having trouble breathing on the bus and just sitting still when we first arrived but I think this may have been caused just as much by 2 days of breathing in dust and smoke as by the altitude because I managed to go for a long walk up the hills without any problems. In the evening we had dinner with an Israeli guy and bumped into our bus group (who stayed at a different hostel to us) and convinced them to eat at the same place and sat and talked while they ate too. This is where you meet all the Israelis. Apparently they love remote areas of China.

We had yet another early bus ride the next morning to Kangding which left at 6:30 and arrived at 4pm along the Southern Sichuan-Tibetan highway. This bus ride probably had the most amazing scenery but the men behind us were smoking cigars which are 10 times worse than cigarrettes and I could hardly breathe! The problem with such beautiful bus rides is I constantly have the urge to jump off the bus in the middle of nowhere and go walking for a few days. Half of this road was sealed and very nice. Kangding, as bescibed in guide books, is ugly and the sourrounding (apparently amazing) area was obscured by dense fog. It started to rain and was absolutely freezing even though we were only at about 2000m. We stayed in a really nice cozy hostel though where everything was made out of wood (even the sinks!). We tried to buy a dvd since the hostel didn't have any but the lady in the shop wouldn't let us (?) and was really rude. The next day was just as bad and there was no point walking up the hill. Fresh snow on the surrounding hills proved that it had been cold though, it wasn't just me being weak. I wasted the day trying and failing to find a photocopy and internet with printing place. I spent hours walking round the small city and didn't find a single internet place, let along one with a printer. After this epic trip I just had time to go for lunch with Mariane and Amandine (who were staying an extra day) before catching an afternoon bus to Chengdu. Although we're in Sichuan we have only had really spicy food once. Mariane gets sick from too much spice so we generally saked for no spice and they actually put NOTHING in so the food is even quite bland sometimes.

Even part of this road was under construction and a huge stretch of it narrow enough for one way traffic only so we were at a stand still for 2 hours which meant I didn't arrive in Chengdu until 10:30pm, just in time to watch the last public bus drive past the bus station. I caught a taxi to my hostel and had a quick sleep before packing for Emei Shan and buying my train ticket for Beijing (planning ahead). I was back at sea level for the first time in 2 weeks and was still dressed as if I was up in the mountains - it was actually warm spring weather down here! I then tried to catch the public bus back to the bus station but missed it and stayed on the bus for an extra half hour ending up way out by the highway. By the time I'd caught a bus back into town and to the bus station it was 10am - so much for an early start. I got to Emei town at almost 1pm and made it to Baoguo, the village at the foot of Emei Shan (Mount Emei), one of Chinas sacred buddhist mountains. The whole trail is made up of stone steps and there are alot of people but this time I was prepared for this. I got help from a Chinese police man (off duty) getting to Baoguo but it wasnn't exactly a convenient or quick way to get there and involved walking for at least half an hour to get to the base so by this point it was 2pm. I took other peoples advice and tried my luck at paying the half price student fare by showing my drivers licence and it worked. As long as they don't speak (and read) english, they just inspect the card, pretent to recognise it as a student card, and give you the discount. easy. Since I'm technically a student again, I just don't have a card yet, I'm ok with doing this. Entry prices in China are also out of control so what do they expect?

I walked to Wannian temple from Baoguo which took 3 hours and wasn't sure how far it was to the next one so decided to stay here for the night which wasn't the best choice. It's just above a cable car station so very accessible and there were alot of people staying the night. It was a very nice complex but very comercialised and the other guests were really loud and talking all through the night so I didn't get much sleep. I had a long hike ahead of me and was already awake as other people were being loud so I was up and left at 6am. I walked for hours and hours up a never ending string of stair cases ranging from steep to very steep. There were actually some flat parts and even a bit of down hill work to mix it up although this just meant more uphill later to make up the altitude. It was a nice peaceful walk until I got to the Leidonping bus station where most people get off the bus, walk the 10 minutes to the cable car, and take that the rest of the way up. They all stare and laugh, not just because I'm a westerner (oh my god!) but because I have a massive backpack and am bright red and drenched in sweat. Maybe if they had also been walking up stairs for 5 hours they would look the same but they just got off a bus in their high heals and mini skirts. I made it to the summit at 3077m just after midday so the whole climb took me about 6 hours.

At first I could see something but within minutes a thick fog blew in and often you could see nothing but the sillouettes of people as long as they were closer than 10m from you. Theres quite a big area to walk around with the gold, silver, and bronze temples and the 'multi-dimensional samantabhadra'. I sat down and ate lunch and also did a few (clockwise) laps on the red carpet around the samantabhadra with the prilgrims. Since its pretty much always too coudy so see any of the phenomena the mountain is famous for or the views of the big 7000m mountian to the East I prefered to to be so foggy you could hardly see. It was mystical and kind of creepy with the same choir style song being played on repeat. And time just dissapeared and all of a sudden it was 3pm! I met a group (an English and a Dutch couple - the guy spoke an impressive amount of Chinese self taught from the internet) part way down that I'd bumped into the day before and we walked together for the rest of the day. You can take a different route down after the Elephant Bathing Pool and we stayed at a really small and remote monastery but I forget the name. Unfortunately even here two groups of Chinese hikers turned up and we had to share a dorm with an old man who snored so unbelievably loud noone got much sleep. The only peace we got was after someone got up and opened and closed the squeeky door, after which it would take him up to 5 minutes to fall asleep and start to snore again.

Since everyone was awake listening to the snorer, we were up early again and left just after 6 stopping for some power noodle soup at the next stall we passed. The last day was slightly clearer than the previous 2 so there were some decent views but it was a long, slow 5 hour hike back to the Wuxiangang bus station. My knees held up amazingly well considering I'd spent 3 days walking up and down tens of tousands of steps but they were feeling it on this last bit. The soles of my feet also throbbed like they never have after a hike before, probably from the hard surface and the way I thump my foot down with each step, a tactic to put less pressure on my knees. The mountain is also known for its aggressive monkeys but I only saw them first coming back down the mountain and we didn't have any trouble getting past them. On the last day though we passed the official monkey zone where they crowd the bridges and try to jump on you and attack as you cross. Luckily there was a guided group just behind us and the guide gave some warning whacks and walked with us across them. I had a abmboo walking stick whic I'd mainly taken as a monkey whacking device but thanks to him I didn't really need it. You can't relly blame the monkeys though, only the idiotic tourists who encourage it by wanting their photo taken with monkeys all over them. I think the touts who try to sell you monkey food also train them to be aggressive to scare you into buying food for them. Its not that I'm scared of monkeys, I'm scared of getting scratched or bitten which means a series of painful and inconvenient rabies shots.

From the bus station we caught a bus back to Baoguo and I continued on the Chengdu arriving at about 3pm. I went back to the hostel and took care of practical things, preparing for my Mongolian visa application, and wandering round the area close to my hostel which is definitely not central and only convenient for the train. This area is actually quite nice with a little market street and a 'rice wrapped in leaf' street where hundreds of stalls line the street selling the exact same thing but it was interesting watchin them make them as I wandered past.

After sorting out some visa preparation and going to the supermarket (which can take me several hours - they are so massive and full of the weirdest things) I went sightseeing around Chengdu. No big suprise that it ended up being more of a tour of Chengdu's green spaces - I went to People's Park, the Culture Park and the Green Ram Temple here. I mainly went to the temple to eat lunch at the vegetarian restaurant inside the huge complex but they wouldn't let me order anything even though it was 1pm, plenty of other people were eating, and I could see them cooking in the kitchen. Arrrg it's so frustrating when they just don't let you do something - denied walking down a trail, denied trying to buy a dvd, denied lunch. What? So I ended up settling for steamed bread and fruit on the streets. I also went to the centre and TianFu square which was the only time I really realised how bug the city was. The traffic is a nightmare but unlike South East Asia the cars do NOT stop if you walk out in front of them and traffic lights are only partially effective. On the bus on the way back to the hostel we had a minor crash with a car (no big suprise really) and the entire overpacked bus tried to cram into the (already full) bus behind ours. I have never been on such a crowded bus before in my life but it was only a short ride.

I've finally learnt to be rude enough to get somewhere too. People will even push infront of you when your clearly next in line at the supermarket - they just slide infront and put their stuff on the counter. Now I don't even let the old ladies get on the bus before me otherwise I'll never get on myself - its push in or get pushed out.

I spent the evening relaxing for once then made my way to the train station to start my trip to the Capital. The whole city seemed to be at the train station that night. After getting through the various security checks (2 ticket checks, luggage x-rayed, and a body pat-down) I made it into the waiting hall where I stood in a sort-of line to the gate for my train. People were pushing in all over the place and once he gates opened there was a human stapede all the way to that train. I'm still not sure why, everyone has seat or bed numbers so why does everyone want to be first to the train? It may have been mainly the people in the hard seat section who wanted to claim the best sleeping spots on the floor. I had a hard sleeper (although it was softer than most beds I've slept in lately so maybe it was a soft-sleeper) but stinged out and got the top (of three) berth. I don't mind being up high but the amount of space you have definietly deminishes the higher (and cheaper) your bed is. The botom level can sit upright on their beds wheras I had to crawl army style on mine. Still it was very comfortable and I slept increadibly well. Normally I barely sleep on buses or trains even if I have a bed but this time I almost forgot we were moving.


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Chinese government attempt to prevent suicideChinese government attempt to prevent suicide
Chinese government attempt to prevent suicide

Apparently when pilgrims see the rainbow ring around their shadow which sometimes occurs here they see it as a calling from budha and jump


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