argh, china. as soon as you' ve started to have a fabulous time, thinking you're really going to miss this place, it screws you over yet again. but first, i'll tell about the nice part. in kangding i met up with an english couple i'd met in chengdu, with whom i'd planned to travel to litang, in far western sichuan. i'd changed my plans, so i wouldn't be going in their direction any more, but we still spent an enjoyable night together. i got to eat what is probably the last yak i'll have for a very long time, and then we went out to a tibetan dance hall. this was an experience i'd mostly describe as strange. it was a disco filled with drunken chinese people sitting at tables and watching the dance halls staff sing traditional chinese songs to techno beats, and occasionally coming up and singing a song of their own, or dancing awkwardly around the stage. we were positive that one of the performers was a tranny, though no confirmation on that one. not a very late night though, as we had to get up at six the next day to catch our respective buses.
i was planning on going to danba, a city set in the mountains at a lower altitude than the frigid sichuan-tibetan highway. but when i got to the station and asked for a ticket, the woman said they didn't have any. actually, i'm not clear on whether they were sold out, or whether the hostel worker had confused the times of the buses. for a minute i didn't know what to do, because here i was up before dawn and nowhere to go. "tagong?" i asked, saying the name of the grasslands that i'd decided to skip in favor of the warmer-weathered danba. they had a 7 o'clock bus, confirming my belief that the hostel worker had confused the 6 o'clock bus to danba and the 7 0'clock bus to tagong. so i headed to tagong, a ride during which we traversed some breathtakingly beautiful snow covered mountains with clear blue sky overhead. the tagong are along the sichuan tibet highway, a part of china that is known as "more tibetan than tibet," because its tibetan peoples are not hindered by the strong chinese presence of the tibetan autonomous region, nor china's plan to chinesify towns like lhasa. after an amazing ride, albeit an hour and a half longer than promised, we arrived at the grasslands. green fields full of yaks, a blue sky you could almost touch, clear fresh air, and tibetan cowboys playing pool and riding motorcycles around the small town. unfortunately, it was freezing. and i don't like the cold, especially not when its only october. so i walked around for a couple hours, then caught a bus to danba, my original stop. you might ask, if tagong is on the way to danba, why didn't i plan the trip this way originally. but actually there is an alternate road to danba from kangding that takes four hours, whereas this sichuan-tibet highway road makes the trip about 9 or 10 hours. oh well, it was completely worth it to catch this glimpse of the most beautiful place i've ever seen. onwards, in a minibus with four locals, who were amazed at a foreign girl travelling alone in these parts, which don't see many westerners. they talked to me a bit, but their local dialect was pretty difficult for me, and finally they left me alone.
at one point however, the driver pulled over to the side of the road and pointed to a spot across the river "wen quan," he said. it was a word i didn't know. "we're going to go shower. are you going to come?" this didn't sound as strange or threatening as it looks, and i couldn't tell if i was understanding him right. i could tell it was some kind of a tourist sight i was supposed to see. "okay." we left the car and crossed the river, and as we walked i tried to figure out what "wen quan" meant. i broke it down into its two parts, and tried to think what either of them could mean. "oh! wo mingbai! i understand!" quan means spring, so it must be a natural hot spring. they gave me an odd look when i shouted that. anyway, we arrived at the spring and the men all undressed to their skivies (again, somehow in china this is not strange or threatening) and jumped into the concrete square into which the spring ran, making a large hot tub. i took off my shoes, rolled up my pants, and stuck my feet in. it felt great, coming from the icy grasslands.
then we got back into the car and drove the rest of the way to danba. i arrived at my hotel, which was completely booked, but they let me stay in some little room on the first floor with two beds for only 20 kuai. i spent a day in this beautiful town, which is built along the cliffs towering above two intersecting rivers. its actually composed of a bunch of little tibetan towns, and tibetans walked along the road with me carrying their goods as i strolled along the river. my back has been killing me since tiger leaping though, so in the afternoon i stayed in my room and finished listening to my harry potter book on tape.
the next day i returned to chengdu, and uneventful 10-hour drive. i planned to go straight to the train station and buy a hard sleeper back to beijing, the end of my trip. after waiting in line for 45 minutes at the station, i got to the front and was told that for the next three days, there were only hard seats for the 26 hour ride back to beijing. pardon my french, but fuck that. so i came back to my hostel and tried to figure out getting a flight back. i figured even though it was loads more expensive, it could be worth it to make it back to beijing in time for the halloween party tonight. apparently all the flights are booked though, so i'll be spending the day at the airport begging for a flight. we'll see if i'm successful. oh, i forgot. after they told me about the trains, i was so mad that i broke my "only eating chinese food" rule, and went to kfc. i started crying a little when they told me they didn't have the sandwich i wanted, a residual from a long bus day coupled with the bad news about the train. but i pulled myself together and ordered a different one. biting into it, i discovered that the chicken was packed full of corn and peas and carrots. argh china!
i was planning on going to danba, a city set in the mountains at a lower altitude than the frigid sichuan-tibetan highway. but when i got to the station and asked for a ticket, the woman said they didn't have any. actually, i'm not clear on whether they were sold out, or whether the hostel worker had confused the times of the buses. for a minute i didn't know what to do, because here i was up before dawn and nowhere to go. "tagong?" i asked, saying the name of the grasslands that i'd decided to skip in favor of the warmer-weathered danba. they had a 7 o'clock bus, confirming my belief that the hostel worker had confused the 6 o'clock bus to danba and the 7 0'clock bus to tagong. so i headed to tagong, a ride during which we traversed some breathtakingly beautiful snow covered mountains with clear blue sky overhead. the tagong are along the sichuan tibet highway, a part of china that is known as "more tibetan than tibet," because its tibetan peoples are not hindered by the strong chinese presence of the tibetan autonomous region, nor china's plan to chinesify towns like lhasa. after an amazing ride, albeit an hour and a half longer than promised, we arrived at the grasslands. green fields full of yaks, a blue sky you could almost touch, clear fresh air, and tibetan cowboys playing pool and riding motorcycles around the small town. unfortunately, it was freezing. and i don't like the cold, especially not when its only october. so i walked around for a couple hours, then caught a bus to danba, my original stop. you might ask, if tagong is on the way to danba, why didn't i plan the trip this way originally. but actually there is an alternate road to danba from kangding that takes four hours, whereas this sichuan-tibet highway road makes the trip about 9 or 10 hours. oh well, it was completely worth it to catch this glimpse of the most beautiful place i've ever seen. onwards, in a minibus with four locals, who were amazed at a foreign girl travelling alone in these parts, which don't see many westerners. they talked to me a bit, but their local dialect was pretty difficult for me, and finally they left me alone.
at one point however, the driver pulled over to the side of the road and pointed to a spot across the river "wen quan," he said. it was a word i didn't know. "we're going to go shower. are you going to come?" this didn't sound as strange or threatening as it looks, and i couldn't tell if i was understanding him right. i could tell it was some kind of a tourist sight i was supposed to see. "okay." we left the car and crossed the river, and as we walked i tried to figure out what "wen quan" meant. i broke it down into its two parts, and tried to think what either of them could mean. "oh! wo mingbai! i understand!" quan means spring, so it must be a natural hot spring. they gave me an odd look when i shouted that. anyway, we arrived at the spring and the men all undressed to their skivies (again, somehow in china this is not strange or threatening) and jumped into the concrete square into which the spring ran, making a large hot tub. i took off my shoes, rolled up my pants, and stuck my feet in. it felt great, coming from the icy grasslands.
then we got back into the car and drove the rest of the way to danba. i arrived at my hotel, which was completely booked, but they let me stay in some little room on the first floor with two beds for only 20 kuai. i spent a day in this beautiful town, which is built along the cliffs towering above two intersecting rivers. its actually composed of a bunch of little tibetan towns, and tibetans walked along the road with me carrying their goods as i strolled along the river. my back has been killing me since tiger leaping though, so in the afternoon i stayed in my room and finished listening to my harry potter book on tape.
the next day i returned to chengdu, and uneventful 10-hour drive. i planned to go straight to the train station and buy a hard sleeper back to beijing, the end of my trip. after waiting in line for 45 minutes at the station, i got to the front and was told that for the next three days, there were only hard seats for the 26 hour ride back to beijing. pardon my french, but fuck that. so i came back to my hostel and tried to figure out getting a flight back. i figured even though it was loads more expensive, it could be worth it to make it back to beijing in time for the halloween party tonight. apparently all the flights are booked though, so i'll be spending the day at the airport begging for a flight. we'll see if i'm successful. oh, i forgot. after they told me about the trains, i was so mad that i broke my "only eating chinese food" rule, and went to kfc. i started crying a little when they told me they didn't have the sandwich i wanted, a residual from a long bus day coupled with the bad news about the train. but i pulled myself together and ordered a different one. biting into it, i discovered that the chicken was packed full of corn and peas and carrots. argh china!
posted by Amanda at 7:10 PM
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