Zhengzhou, China: Kung Fu at the Shoalin Temple

Awoke at 3:50 AM and rolled out of bed quietly to the PC to file pictures and get caught up on email. It has been almost a week without email access and there was much to do. Ellen has been good at getting postings to the blog over the last several days so I have not been electronically tethered. Today we are off to Mongolia after a stop at the famous Shoalin Temples known for as the birth place of Kung Fu. While there we are entertained by a group of Kung Fu Masters that literally through a needle through a plate glass window and pop a ballon. I have it on film: amazing.

Xi'an, China: Buddha's Finger and a Mini-me TerraCotta Warriors

Another full day. Today is our last day in Xi’an and we are off to play at the Famen Temple and the Yangling tombs. The Famen Temple is where a finger bone of Buddha is kept. The Yangling tombs is a mini-me version of the Terra Cotta Warriors. Tomorrow we are off to Mongolia after a stop at the Shaolin Temple where we will be checking out the Kung Fu. As Ellen has already covered the Famen Temple, I will focus on the Yangling Temple. This is the burial site for Emperor Qi and his Empress Wang. The main chambers are 31 meters under the ground and then on top of that another 31 meters of earth has been mounded in pyramid form. Buried around the pyramid are thousands of figures that include all forms of animals, people and their tools. This is a quarter scale version of the Terra Cotta Warriors that have jointed arms and legs.

Lhasa Tibet: The Potala Palace

The Potala Palace was the home of the Dali Lama prior to exile. It was built around a cave that was used for meditation ages ago and now is a throne for statues of those key influencers of Tibetan Buddism. It is sad for me to see something that once offered an active path to enlightenment to the peoples of this area. Now it is just a shrine, that doubles as a museum. The climb up was long and the views divine. We then continued to two other temples and a market.
Factoid: Tibetan Monk sects are described as 'Red Hat', 'Yellow Hat' and others. The Yellow Hat sect have daily debates where the monks challange themselves on the teachings of Buddism. The attached video shows the monks throwing questions at each other like pitchers in a baseball game, then those sitting try to answer questions like “what is the meaning of life”.

Lhasa, Tibet: Our first morning in Tibet

Awoke this morning after sleeping on a very nice, clean down comforter that was neatly draped over a slab of marble. ‘Firm’ is an understatement, these beds are made to make the mountain people comfortable when in the city. Ellen and I resorted to loading 3 thick winter comforters on top of the marble so we could slumber. At about 4am I went up to the roof for a view of the stars, the city and the surrounding mountains. Even with city lights the star came out to play. As the light of the sun brightened the day Tibet started to show us her beauty.
Factoid: It is illegal to have a portrait of the Dali Lama in Tibet. A tour guide was caught with a DVD of the Dali Lama and was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Lhasa Tibet: SOS orphanage

Upon our arrival in Tibet we went to the SOS orphanage and spent some time with the children, thier director and one of the campus mothers. They have a dozen homes that house 8-12 kids each. Each house has a ‘mother’ that looks after the needs of the children. Very personal and human, quite a shift from institutionalized orphanages. They have this really cool solar cart that warms up meals though solar reflection, too. Tomorrow we are off to the Potala Palace, once home to the Dali Lama. Over 320 steps to the top with 68% oxygen.
Factoid: The Tibetans stack dried Yak manure for heating in the winter. It is common to see these Yak stacks in front of homes awaiting the winter chill. I tried Yak steak last night and it was very good.

Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet: Travel Day

We started this morning at 1AM as our freshly tailored clothes arrived, or at least partially arrived. We were surprised to hear that the remainder of our order would be at the hotel at 8AM, an hour after we were to depart for Tibet. We got a few hours sleep and arose at 5AM to track down the remaining garments: with no luck. They finally arrived at 6:15AM, 15 minutes after our bags were to be packed and sent ahead of us. With some help, we had them forwarded to Xi’an so we would stay under our weight limit for our trip to Lhasa. Lhasa, Tibet is at nearly 12,000 ft: it is dry and clear and comfortably warm for over 2 miles above sea level. In one flight we went from near sea level to 12,000 feet. Lhasa is near neighboring Bhutan and we flew near Mt. Everest on the way from Beijing.
Upon arrival to the Brahmaputra Gran Hotel, we were greeted with the traditional white scarf and local music and a dancing Yak. The hotel is like a museum, Tibetan artifacts are in all the halls and rooms and tell of the history of these people. The hotel rooms actually have oxygen bottles by the side of the beds where you normally would find water.
Factoid: In Lhasa it takes three breaths to get the same oxygen you would get in two in Beijing. There is about 68% of the oxygen that you would find at sea level.

Great Wall of China

Wow! The Great Wall of China is one amazing piece of fortification. It makes me wonder about those Mongolians. For anyone to be so cautious of another people that they build a wall thousands of kilometers long....well.... I imagine the Mongolians partied like rock stars and were mean when they have a hangovers.
We had a great day that climaxed for me with a stroll down a wall that has been in my list of 'must sees' for years.
The wall is truly a great achievement. As you can see the mountains are steep and jagged and this fence winds it's way along the ridges for as long as the eye can see. Can you imagine being a Mongolian, out for your monthly raid and seeing a wall where there once was trees? Could ruin any good ransacking.
Now hundreds of years later, I think it would make a great motorcross, bmx or skate course. Perhaps a stop on the formula one of street luge.
Factiod: One side of the Great Wall is taller than the other. The side facing Mongolia is about 2 feet higher than the side facing Beijing.

Beijing China - Silk Street Market

It is late on a full travel day and we are climbing the stairs to one of the clothes districts of Beijing: the Silk Market. This is a collection of several hundred shops all with very aggressive sales people all wanting to clothe you. Girls grabbing at you to sell you ties, men stretching underwear under your nose saying "Calvin Klein good for you". We end up at a place that is a little less obnoxious and settle in for several hours of silk selection and pattern picking. Ultimately we end up with several dresses, pants suits and jackets for Ellen. She looks so hot!!! They say they are going to get this all done in the next 36 hours and drop them off at the hotel. We leave in less than 35 hours so we will see if they make it to us prior to our Tibetan departure on the 11th.

Aria, you would love this place!

Lijiang Banyan Tree: a day of rest

Ahh, a comfortable day of leisure, perhaps our last for a month. It was raining out so we decided to take a day and just relax in this wonderful resort (see picture of the entry way). It has been a busy summer and for the first time in months we spent time just doing little projects and catching up on meditation and sleep. We did a marathon ‘24’ session, spent time reflecting on those we love and had a fantastic barbecue brought to the room for dinner: it was a wonderful recharge. Tomorrow we are off to Beijing. It will be mostly a travel day, but we hope to make it to the Silk Market when we land to pick up some dresses and suits for Ellen. Then the following day: Great Wall and Forbidden City.

Old Town Lijiang: Peach Festival

Old town Lijiang is like a scene out of a Disney set. Small cobble stone streets, many lined with canals, complete with wild Koi. With 22 different sects, the dress and facial structures were many and varied. Lijiang is in the middle of their peach festival. Peaches are the size of softballs.

Leaping Tiger Gorge

The legend goes that a great tiger, while being hunted, was able to jump from one side of the Yangtze River to the other at a narrow gorge in the river. We traveled for 3 hours to see what was billed at the "deepest and grandest gorge in the world." While quite impressive, the Tiger Leaping Gorge was a little overstated. Though to have another day with Ellen was truly Divine. Our guide for the day, William, was a local mountain man, very humble, very informative and very talkative. After an hour or so of his tutelage we had to resort to iPods and books to quiet him. The driver was Tibetan: calm collected and purposeful. Nice to have on the curvy mountain roads. The gorge is 35kms long and 12 km wide and at its narrowest spot the water is fierce and voluminous.

[Note from Ellen:
In 1989, when some brave adventurers rafted down the Yangtze all the way from its Headwaters in Tibet to its mouth in the East China Sea at Shanghai, the only fatality occurred in the Leaping Tiger River Gorge.
I'm not surprised.
While the gorge isn't as deep or impressive as the Grand Canyon, the power of the raging water at the spot we hiked to was Tremendous! I think this is not only because the river drops steeply there, but also because the steep, granite sidewalls of the gorge close in sharply approaching the gorge.
Hiking to the leaping tiger spot on the river takes 30-45 minutes and involves some risk. The walls of the gorge are vertical and the path to the tiger has been blasted out of the rock face. We hiked on the Lijiang side - facing Shangri La on the other side. Rock falls are common - 20 days before we were there, a guide from Lijiang was killed by a falling boulder.]

On the way there we stopped at a shrine overlooking the Yangtze that had Sensemillaen growing wild along the paths. We also were very close to Shangri-la. Though to be honest, I feel that we already have that in our hearts every day.
Factiod: The Tiger Leaping Gorge has caves chiseled in the marble banks that were used by emperors past to get the best marble and more recently to allow tourists to walk the 2.6km to the gorge without getting hit by rocks that periodically fall from the high cliffs above.

For more Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/randpipp/20071007QiaotouChinaTigerLeapingGorge

Banyan Tree - Lijhang

Alas, after an early morning departure from Shanghai we are welcomed by the Banyan Tree in Lijhang. What a delight! We started the morning with some travel challenges as Eastern China Air told us our tickets were canceled and that we would need to rebook our flight as the plane was full. I took a page out of Marco Polo and did not accept the prognosis and filled ourselves with self importance. After 30 minutes of pretending to be royalty they finally found us a seat and we were on our way. Driving though Lijhang, it did not look like much after Shanghai. Though we hope to get a closer look as the the city is latticed with a maze of narrow waterways and canals set at an elevation of 8,000 feet. Our home for the next three days, the Banyan Tree in Lijhang, is all that it is billed to be: elegant, tranquil and sophisticated with oriental magic. All the staff appear to speak in English at all times and the welcome tea is the best Ginsing tea we have ever tasted. We have booked several hours of massage over the next few days and, weather permitting, will go to the fledgling head waters of the Yangzi (the Chinese spelling) river known as the Jinsha (gold sand) River. The area we hope to see, Leaping Tiger Gorge, is billed as one of the deepest and most awe inspiring gorges in the world. It is cloudy now, but as the weather clears tomorrow we expect to be greeted by the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain a 18,000 foot mountain that will be visible from the front door of our villa. More on the gorge and mountain later.

Factoid: Zhongdian, a town 100 miles north of Lijaing has been designated by the Chinese government as the official location of 'Shangri-la'. 'Shangri-la', in a Zhongdian dialect of Tibetan, means "the slope leading to the land of the sun and moon in my heart".

BTW: We have been posting this while all instructions are in Chinese, and it appears that the blog is not on the approved list of URLs in China, so we cannot see what we are posting...hope that these posts are all actually making it. Also, if you have entered any comments it might be awhile until we can actually see them.

Shanghai Huangou River Cruise

We just returned from a trip on the Huangou River. Shanghai is lit up like a Las Vegas night. The colors, movement and diversity are spectacular. We spent the evening with Peter and his wife, a freight forwarder for exporting goods from China, while floating along the Bund. The Bund is a section of town along the river where our hotel is located: the Weston Bund. It is the tallest building in the picture at right with the golden crown. Below (hopefully) is an attached video that shows one half of the river, the other side is lit up as well. We are continually amazed at the energy of this city: alive with a buzz that I can only imagine as Gold Rush San Francisco. My beautiful Ellen on one arm floating by one of the oldest civilizations in the world while I sip an ice cold Tsingtao beer.

Factoid: Tsingtao was first brewed in China in 1903, founded by German solders. Did you know that those safety conscious Germans are responsible for 470 Chinese injuries a year: due to exploding beer bottles, by all counts, schnitzels are safer.

For more pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/randpipp/20071005ShanghaiChinaJadeTempleShoppingRiverTour