Author: James Hathaway

PART 6:  Lhasa to Yangtze River, The Three Gorges

Monday: Lhasa to Chengdu to Chongqing and aboard Victoria Cruise Lines

It was a painfully early 4:15 AM wake up call. I was feeling poorly.  Many in our group had fallen victim to a stomach bug.  (Yak burger perhaps?!)

We boarded our frozen bus for the long dark ride to the airport.  We are convinced there is no heating in Tibet, anywhere!  We knew it would be chilly but we completely under estimated the lack of interior heat.  Hot food would turn cold almost immediately from the cold air and cold plates.  Most interior spaces would turn cold as soon as the sun set.

No heat in the hotel (although very heavy yak wool blankets helped), no heat in the restaurants, and no heat on the bus!  I discovered a hole in the floorboard beneath my seat.  I was certain I would be frostbitten.

We stumbled onto the plane with hopes of thicker air at a lower elevation and warmth to thaw our shivering bodies.  Luckily I found an empty row of seats and I laid down strategically between two bathrooms just in case I got sick.  By now I was feeling terrible and was dreading the long day of travel ahead of us.

We arrive at Chengdu.  They served fish on the plane!  I thought I was going to lose it.  The polluted air hit me like a brick.  I needed rest.  I skipped lunch and slept as much as I could on the bus.  It was a five hour ride to Chongqing.

Upon our arrival, John gave me some medication and I went directly to bed.  Eleven hours later, I awoke hungry and feeling human again.

Tuesday: Victoria Cruise Line, Fengdu

NOTE:  Please see Archives: Favorite Water Journeys, Part 1, posted December 17, 2015. Category: Travel for more information on Victoria Cruise Lines.

After breakfast, we boarded Victoria 1, a US/China joint venture (at the time), our home for the next three nights.  We would be cruising down the river the next three days.  Finally our daily pace would slow a bit and we could recover from the breakneck pace our tour seemed to demand.

We wondered if the Chinese government preferred travelers to be busy every minute of every day save they get into mischief or something more sinister.

This afternoon we stop at Fengdu, the ghost city.  What a surprise to find 700,000 people living there.  We take the rickety skyway to the top of the Temple of Hell.

We discovered the ghosts are underworld characters, 18 different types, followed by judges and gods who determine if you are worthy to continue to heaven.  A Chinese limbo or purgatory if you will.

The punishments for offenses like cheating or stealing would be grotesque and horrific.  Who do you suppose thought up not paying your taxes as a humanitarian crime?  The visit was okay but with too much silly superstitions and kitch.

Dinner again, more food.  We are growing tired of Chinese food.  The lack of variety and fresh fruit and veggies is frustrating.  There was evening entertainment of some sort.  We pass. Time to recharge our energy for the next few days.

Wednesday, The Lesser Gorges and 2 larger gorges.

We are up early to catch a glimpse of the first gorge.  The morning is thick with fog.  We can barely make out the shoreline.  Soon there is a dim outline of the steep walls of the gorge and vague peaks at the top.  It is chilly with a biting wind.  Before long,  however, we are rewarded with stunning views through the mist and early dawn light.

Limestone cliffs tower above us, vegetation and peculiar formations cling to the near vertical walls.  Suddenly we are through the first gorge and everyone on deck scurries below for coffee and breakfast.

Soon we disembark to explore the Lesser Gorges.  We wonder why we can’t go by ship until we arrive at some docks and realize the Lesser Gorges are clustered around a rocky narrow river far too small for our ship.

We board smaller flat bottom boats with the roofs retracted and off we go.  It looks like an army of little boats jockeying to get away from the rest of the boats.  It is a comical caravan of tourists.  Some tourists but mostly Chinese locals.  Away we go up the shallow river for our four hour journey.

As we enter the first of the three Lesser Gorges, the fog lifts and the sun breaks through.  What a welcomed sight, a break from the foggy blanket we have experienced in most of our Chinese journey.  The green foliage is rich green and bright in the morning sun.  Rice terraces and vegetable fields glisten.  The late autumn air has turned some trees red, others yellow and still others have lost their leaves altogether.  Some not at all.

The narrow gorges reveal their treasures more intimately than the larger gorges.  Everything is close, the limestone formations, the odd shaped caves, the towering overhangs and the peaks more than 2000 feet straight up.

The gaps between the gorges are filled with farmland and small villages.  The water runs clear and clean.  Seemingly rare in China.  There are fish and birds everywhere.  Monkeys warm themselves in the morning sun.

The second gorge is more beautiful than the first.  Once we reach the third gorge, we stop for lunch on a large pebble beach.  We munch on a box lunch prepared on our ship while local peddlers try to distract us with their trinkets for sale.

After lunch, we continue up the river to the third gorge.  It is nice but merely impressive.  After a short look, time demands we reverse course and retrace our trail and return to the ship.

Going downstream goes fast and is comparatively quiet.  The boatmen busy polling and measuring the waters depth going upstream are now manning the bow oar to steer the boat through the rapids.  It turned out to be a wonderful excursion.  We enjoyed ourselves completely.

After docking, it’s back on the bus and zigzagging our way through the narrow streets of Wushan, most of which will be submerged with the completion of the massive Three Gorges Dam.  New cities are already being built above the new water line.

Back on the ship, we immediately find ourselves approaching the second of the larger gorges.  What it lacks in intimacy it more than make up for in sheer beauty.  It conjures up images of the Swiss lake region or the Norwegian fjords if it were not for the brown murky water.

Tonight’s dinner included a rare pasta dish.  We ignore the other offerings and indulge in something other than Chinese fare.  The food overall has been quite good.  After dinner, we were lured to another folk music and dance.  We left after three performances having enough of such cultural displays.

Thursday, Thanksgiving.  The construction site of the Three Gorges Dam

We skipped the early morning viewing of another small gorge and relished the extra time in bed.  Today we visited the massive construction site of the Three Gorges Dam.  The purpose and controversy aside, the scope and scale is beyond expansive.  It will, no doubt, alter the face of China.  The achievement is the source of much national pride.

The afternoon is free to relax and enjoy the last hours of our river cruise.  The gorge slowly yields to farmland, cities grow larger, industry hugging the banks. Water commerce increases, so does the pollution again.

Our farewell dinner was excellent tonight.  Each dish unique and unlike any other meals on the trip.  An excellent fish was followed by an equally excellent duck.  Each dish matched with a sauce, one slightly sweet and sour, the other rich and savory.

The crew provided a round of light entertainment to finish the evening.

Friday, disembark in Wuhan and connecting flights back to the US.

It got cold and foggy overnight.  The morning was at leisure and we enjoyed the extra free time to relax and leisurely pack.  The final breakfast was especially good.  This was the final sailing of the season and the crew was eager to “wrap up” their tour of duty.  We arrive early in Wuhan, catch our transfer to the airport for our long journey, via Hong Kong, back to the US.

It was an amazing trip.  It was life altering is many ways.  Travels like this make the world smaller, more connected if only one person at a time.

Part 5: Potala Palace, Serra Monastery and Mandala Temple 

Sunday

We finally felt half human after a good nights sleep.  After a late breakfast it was off to the capital of Tibetan Buddhism, the Potala Palace.

Luckily we drove almost to the top and entered the Palace from the rear.  It was dark, dank and mysterious.  It was both beautiful and overwhelming.  Every inch seemed covered in fabrics, paintings, carvings or storage for the seemingly endless relics, statues, stupas, thrones or books.

An occasional ray of sunlight would brighten a small nook, vignette or hallway. Otherwise much of the place felt ominous and forbidding.  You could almost hear the chanting of mantras and the praying of monks.  But that was in the imagination because the sense of silence was almost overwhelming.

There was a pervasive smell of yak butter candles burning relentlessly.  The odor was inescapable.  The smell of putrid yak butter candles was everywhere.  Most of the poor, faithful residents of Lhasa are subsistence farmers.  The only offering they have is leftover yak butter just before it turns and can no longer be used for food or drink.

The candles were everywhere in the palace. New yak butter would be mounded over old, the old would turn rotten and rancid with age and the burning.  There were many empty rooms we entered only to startle the rats and mice, sending them scurrying away from their meal of the vile liquid goo.

There was also a profound sense of sadness.  This had been the traditional seat of government and the center of Buddhist religion.  It now sat powerless, almost lifeless, like an old attic mothballed and waiting for discovery and rejuvenation.

We made our way through countless rooms and a series of courtyards to a vast set of stairs leading down and out of the complex.  It was a magnificent visit, well beyond our wildest expectations.

Thank goodness the cultural revolution had not destroyed this place as it had so many many other treasures of the Tibetan society.

After lunch and a brief rest, we embarked to the Sera Monastery on the edge of Lhasa.  A whitewashed village with narrow streets and passageways with raised platforms on which the buildings stood.  The monastery was home to 900 monks, all draped in heavy maroon and brick colored robes.  We spotted a small group smashing yak bones for that evenings soup.  It was a fascinating peek at local Buddhist monks daily life.  It was a powerful juxtaposition to anything Western.

Our last stop of the day was the Mandala Temple.  The second most important temple in Tibet.  Pilgrims from all over Tibet and the world make great sacrifices to make a pilgrimage to this temple.

Ironically, this afternoon there are only tourists inside the temple grounds.  The exit from the temple led directly to a large bazaar that surrounded the temple.  This is where the pilgrims came to conduct their rituals.   And where ever there are customers, there are local marketplaces.

This market followed the parade of pilgrims around the temple in a counter clockwise direction.  They were dressed in their local dress that varied from region to region.  The ladies wore their wealth of turquoise and coral woven into their hair or latched to their belts.

Men wore various forms of head gear.  Some looked daunting, others quite fierce with bones in their hair and daggers on their belts.

Surprisingly, what was most peculiar was that WE were the oddity and the pilgrims the norm.  It seems few tourists wandered into the marketplace.  We were the oddity, a novelty to be ogled and studied, often with amusement to the pilgrims.

Surprisingly, of special interest, was an act of negotiating a transaction.  A purchase would attract quite a crowd while the process of haggling for the ‘right price’ took place.

Even more attention was give to the payment itself.  A crush of eyes were upon us.  Where did we keep our money?  How much did we have?  Where were our secret pouches, where were our hidden valuables…  Unnerving to say the least but consistent with their way of life.

John was a pro at bargaining.  So when we found a solid turquoise bowl, he was fully engaged to get the best price.  After much a do, John and the merchant were deadlocked.  I asked John what was the price gap, he told me and I quickly calculated the difference.  I leaned into John’s ear and whispered, you are arguing over a quarter.  Give her her price and let’s go.

Dinner that evening was a bizarre experience.  It was a new modern restaurant with granite and marble everywhere.  The weather was considered warm by local standards.  By our standards, it was freezing.  So there we were with jackets and ski caps waiting for our yak burgers and french fries…

Next:  Part 6, The final post in this series.  The Yangtze River and  the Three Gorges  (before the dam).

Part 4, Chengdu, Pandas, and Lhasa

Friday was a rare luxury of a late wake up call, one whole hour extra!  This was followed by an equally rare opportunity to explore a morning market on our own.

All the familiar market goings on were there as the city slowly woke up.  Things to eat, cook, drink, sweets, grow, store, fix, clean, save, entertain, wear, and more left us in awe.  Huge trays of steaming buns stacked ten trays high was our favorite scene.  Counterfeit and pirated goods made us growl.

Once we returned to the hotel, we joined our group and went to another market.  This one was a fancy wholesale seafood market.  Rich with oddities and unusual odors.

Then came the jade factory.  Followed by an early lunch at the airport for our flight to Chengdu and the fabled pandas.

Our flight was delayed “due to mechanical troubles.”  In reality, the plane had not been fueled.  The flight was happily uneventful, except for the layers of foggy, smokey skies that hung heavily over the rows of mountains, some with snow.

We arrive, board our small bus and travel through the center of Chengdu, city of nine million people living in seemingly endless blocks of high rise apartments.

Onward to the Panda Breeding Center.  Traffic is unbelievable, the heaviest we have seen to date.  Many more throngs of bicycles, countless more than we saw in Beijing.  Topping it off, the worse eye burning pollution anywhere to date.

At last we inch our way out of the city, then the outskirts of town to the research center.  A tall forest of arching bamboo lead to the adult panda exhibit.

Lucky us, it is feeding time.  The caretakers coax the chubby females out of their shelters with fresh young bamboo and apples, every pandas favorite!  They plop themselves in front of us, most with an apple in one paw and bamboo in the other.  It was delightful to watch, they seemed so content and at peace with their world.  We could have camped out right there and watched all day.

More good news for us.  There are two 3 month old balls of fuzzy white and black fur back in the shelters waiting for our ogling.  Cute little paws, claws and toes twitching and stretching.  Eyes still closed, tiny ears and ever so cute snouts, housed in climate controlled shelters they share with their moms.  We were only allowed 15 minutes and we tore ourselves away.  It was time to leave.

Tonight a fancy dinner with a welcomed variety of spicy dishes typical of the Sichuan Region.  Our favorites were the sweet hot eggplant and the firery steamed fish.

An early return to our room was driven by luggage limitations for our Tibet flight tomorrow.  One carry on per person for the three days in Llasa.  We would retrieve our remaining luggage on the return trip.

Saturday, Lhasa

Our 4:15 AM wake up call and 4:45 AM breakfast was painful as we have only now adjusted to the time change.  We clear the airport formalities without issue and soon our flight is called for boarding.

Seemingly from nowhere, hundreds of people jam the gate area, shuffling, jostling, edging, and crowding their way through the boarding door.  We laughed as it was another example of the local culture, a miniature of every bottleneck we’ve seen, whether by car, or bike, or human anytime movement is required.

It is a huge Airbus A340, the plane is nearly full.  We immediately notice the Tibetans, easy to spot their distinctive clothing and appearance.  Men with typical heavy fur jackets and women with georgous turquoise jewelry.  It was definately a “we are not in Kansas anymore” moment.

Soon the landscape outside changes, layer after layer of mountains, bleak, barren ridges, tiny villages, endless sand dunes, meager farms.  Upon our final approach a lovely river appears, its turquoise waters sparkling in the morning light.

Once we disembark we immediately sense the 12,000 foot altitude.  The air and sky are clear and crisp.  Our bus ride to Llasa is over 90 kilometers away and passes through beautiful, if desolate, countryside.  The poverty of the Titbetian farmers and villagers is obvious.  It is also obvious this is a very different place.

The harsh but beautiful landscape is one part desert, one part moon.  The rivers are sparkling clean yet very little vegetation seems willing to take on this brutal elevation.

Finally we arrive at the Llasa Hotel, proudly claiming to have been the former Holiday Inn Llasa.  We are rewarded with sunny rooms facing South.  After a nondescript lunch we rest a few hours to help adjust to the altitude fatigue.

In the late afternoon we are guests at a “home visit” to a local Tibetan family.  Introduced as a middle class family, their traditional compound consists of several large rooms, storerooms, utility spaces, and a central courtyard.

Our host is a shy spindly woman in traditional Tibetan dress.  She graciously served various snacks including dried toasted barley, puffed rice, dried yak cheese, green raisins, cookies and hard candies.

The highlight was the serving of yak butter tea.  The hot water heated from an amazing solar stove in the courtyard.  It had a rancid fatty taste quite indescribable and, to my pallet (Jim) beyond consumption.  We observed if anyone finished their tea, their cup was immediately refilled, as often as needed. I am not ashamed to admit I pretended to sip my tea and therefore pass when refills were offered.

It was actually an interesting visit but we were not confident this was a typical middle class family.   Her husband had worked for a government construction company and now appeared to enjoy the rewards for his patriotic years of service.

Our first dinner is quite unique.  Our restaurant is named The Crazy Yak.  We are the only guests in the restaurant.  The menu included Yak dumplings, Yak meatballs and thin Yak fillets.  Verdict?  It was quite tasty.

After dinner there was a talk with a history professor from the local University.  He spoke about Tibetan history from the 5th century.  He was Chinese living in Tibet for seven years.  He skillfully responded with the many Chinese/Tibetan questions from our group.

Next came an entertaining collection of Tibetan folk and opera dances.  It was a nice end to a very long day.

Coming next, Part 5: Potola Palace, Serra Monestary and Mandala Temple 

Part 3, Temple of Heaven, Xian

Wednesday.  After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to one of the hutongs to visit a family home.  It felt ackward, as though we were intruders, but our hosts were gracious humble people.

Their home was small and simple, built around a small courtyard.  Every inch was cramped and compact.  These folks were born here as were the generations before them.  The matriarch, 79, looked alert with a little twinkle in her eyes.  After a quick visit and a cup of tea, we were off again.

Next, the Temple of Heaven.  Four times the size of the Forbidden City but not nearly as grand.  The main temple, however, stands 36 meters (117 feet) tall and was built without a single nail.  It is a 100% wood structure.  It is magnificent as the sun shines on its round blue tiled roof.

An early lunch and an uneventful flight brings us to Xian.  There was just the right amount of chaos at arrivals to let you know you have entered the real China, still an emerging country.

The long ride from the airport to the city passed rich and vast agricultural fields reminescent of the California Central Valley or India’s sprawling fields in Rajasthan.   Soon we arrive in Xian, a massive city of 7 million.  It is dusty, smoggy and heavily congested.

Pollution billowing from smoke stacks in all directions smell worse than it looks. The traffic is beyond belief.  Cars, trucks, motorcycles, bikes and wheeled contraptions of all kinds jockey, fearlessly and skillfully, to make their way to their destinations.

We arrive at the city’s North Gates and stumble upon a reinactment of an old welcoming ceremony complete with pomp and costumes.  We scurry up the stairs as quickly as possible for the best view.  The evening is quickly approaching and the sky is brownish yellow in all directions.

Remarkably the city walls have survived in tact.  Guard towers, ancient warning bells and four main gates outline the old borders of the town.  Eventually during our visit we we will pass through four gates, each facing either North, South, East or West.  These are amazing structures that served important purposes.  Each gate was surrounded by a fortified wall with gates on either end.  If visitors were deem friendly, they would pass into the city through the second set of gates.  If determined to be a foe, they would summarily be slaughtered.  This practice was later adopted by the Western world and used for centuries.

We enjoy our first hot pot for dinner.  Everyone cooks their plate of meats, vegetables and other goodies in a community pot of broth, then seasons with spicy sauces to their taste.

We finally arrive at the Hyatt Hotel, home for the next two nights.  It is a wonderful oasis.

Thursday, The Terra Cotta Warriors.

Another early morning start.  Everyone is excited as we arrive at the Xian History Museum only to discover “new season hours” delay the opening time.  So we divert to the Wild Goose Budddist Temple, a 1400 year old giant brick pagoda that dominates the temple grounds.  The group listens to a history of the temple and shivers through an incense lighting ceremony before returning to the museum.

There is a grand and extensive display of the 23 centuries of history. The bronze pieces are especially impressive, gleaming in the lights.  The museum hosts an equally impressive gift shop.  We discover the best porcelain treasures to date, the very best pieces have a government seal and certificates of authenticity at very reasonable prices.  We buy a blue and white in excellent condition.  We are delighted.

After the museum, there is another stop at an old mansion complex now converted to a shopping mecca for visitors to the area.  We are tempted by so many beautiful things but discover the most gorgeous silk carpets.  We yield to temptation and purchase a small 2.5 ft. x 4 ft. silk carpet for our hallway.  We negotiated a 40% discount, a good price, but we were a bit shocked at how much we spent.  Newbies!

Note:  Good news, that carpet has graced our home for decades and looks as new as the first day.

A “pizza box” lunch on the bus takes is to the main event!  The complex where the terra cotta warriors were discovered in 1974 is huge.  Pit 1 is the largest and most impressive.  We had seen the many documentaries and read about the excavations but the sight of hundreds of 2000 year old statues, each crafted from a real soldier of the day is breathtaking.  These life sized guardians still silently standing guard for the Emperor of China is amazing.  Estimates are there are still hundreds more still waiting to be freed from their earthly shackles.

The biggest surprise is the individual images.  Some stern and gruff, others stowic, gentle or resigned.  It is overwhelming by the time we have completed touring Pit 4 where diggings have continued.  At the end of the visit we meet the actual farmer who discovered it all.

After a long day we dine on dumplings, a welcomed change, but realize much of the Chinese cuisine we have in SF is better than China (undoubtedly due to the local available ingredients and decades of Chinese cooking talents).

The show that followed dinner would be right at home as a 1936 musical spectacle worthy of Louis B. Meyer.  The drummers were our favorite.  That said, you could have stored meat in that theater, it was freezing.

Coming next, Part 4, Chengdu, Pandas

China and Tibet, Part 2

Monday, The Great Wall!

Rested and fed, we start our tour.  Before long we are free of the choking traffic and gliding along the main highway to Badaling with its extensively restored section of the Great Wall clinging to the mountain ridge.

It was built to protect Chinese Imperial Dynasties from attack by the Huns.  It is a remarkable feat of construction.  We have a cold, clear day to explore it.  The experience is greeted with awe and wonder.  We have always wanted to traverse the wall, and finally, here we are. (Along with hundreds, maybe thousands of Japanese students and other assorted visitors, all determined adventurers.)

We head East, up and up.  It is easy to imagine the Imperial armies marching 10 abreast up and down the walkways and stairs.  They must have been quite fit.  Perhaps this was the original stair master!

The surrounding countryside is just ho hum.  It is the wall itself that makes the experience worthwhile.  Our visit of a few hours flies by and it is time to move again.  Our next stop is the Ming Tombs.  Bad news, the United Nations General Secretary is here and the largest and best of the tombs is closed to the public for Security Reasons.

Alternatively, we visit another nearby “lesser” tomb built on top of a small mountain and deep into the hilltop.  The path is deep and dank and unsettling to John.  We make quick work of this stop and move on.  Disappointed, we are on the road again and now ahead of schedule.  We decide to stop for a walk along the “Avenue of the Statues”, 500 years old.  It is a charming stroll about 1 KM long with 32 huge stone statues of animals and courtiers to the Imperial throne silently standing in tribute to their soverign’s final journey to the tombs.

Now back to Beijing, passing countless highrise buildings, seemingly endless traffic and crowded streets.  And Dinner!  We begin to notice a pattern.  Many of the same dishes repeating themselves from meal to meal.  The food is actually quite good with just enough variance so far to keep it interesting.  But we are wanting more variety.  Different choices and less volume.

Tuesday, The Summer Palace and the Forbidden City

Another cold morning with a lingering fog greeted us.  The morning outing is to the Summer Palace and its 73 hectacres of grounds and lakes.  This is where the great Dowager Empress spent much of her 40 year rule.

It is an incredible palace with a covered walkway painted with hundreds of mythical scenes.  The marble boat isn’t a boat at all, but a fancy entertainment venue built on the lake’s shore.

Our planned boat ride back to our bus was cancelled due to “end of season schedule changes.”  Oh well, another opportunity to walk off some of the endless food…

After lunch and a fresh water pearl farm, we head to the Forbidden City.  We laugh when our route repeats our first day’s walk.  We hide our inner glow as we privately reflect on our independent adventure.

The Forbidden City is vast and awesome.  It is hard to imagine what life must have been like.  Seemingly endless privledge but I’ll bet there was little freedom. Nonetheless, you can count on life in the palace as far better than for those outside those massive walls.

Layer after layer, the courtyards and buildings become more spectacular, even though the contents are mostly missing.  First to the colonial powers from Europe, but ultimately to the Cultural Revolution and its quest to reject all Imperial power.

It is ironic now that theses symbols generate virtually all tourists interest in China.

I am mesmerized by the details carved in marble, etched in stone or molded into beauty.  Increasingly we find ourselves lingering behind the group.  We sense quiet grumblings.

Next we only drive around Tiananmen Square.  We were so glad we were able to casually explore the square on days before.

After dinner we attended a Chinese Opera.  The performance was a colorful and interesting display of voice, acrobatics, martial arts and costumes.  It seemed familiar and strange at the same time.  Though only a 40 minute performance, I thought I would cramp up and die from the painfully uncomfortable seats.  In the end we were glad when it was over.

Coming Soon, Part 3: Temple of Heaven and Xian