Came back last night from two days of hiking in the Yading Reserve close (3 hours by minivan) to Daocheng. Quite tiring given altitudes from 4000m upwards. The reserve is a paradise of nature surrounded by 6000m peaks. Unfortunately the peaks were mostly covered by clouds. It was still beautiful. And reminded me a bit of home.

I am very very much looking forward to come home. It is in the back of my mind all the time now.

Today I relaxed a bit in Daocheng. Slept in, then got a bike for the day and cruised around. As I took some pictures, a little Tibetan boy approached me, telling me he had come to see me. He invited me to come to his home. I was offered butter tea, tsampa, yakmilk and yakyogurth. He showed me around, asked all kinds of questions (one of them: he showed me a piece of broken mirror and asked me if I knew what it was) and finally brought me back home. Fantastic.
Travelling alone has so many advantages.

I also bought my bus ticket for tomorrow. I will leave for Zhongdian in northern Yunnan. The bus ride is supposed to take 10 hours and is, as I hear, once again, spectacular. High passes, endless mountain ranges, rivers, valleys, creeks, grass lands, Yaks, and from time to time little Tibetan towns; that is the scenery in this part of the country. I was informed, that the bus might have to take a detour as the roads are too bad. It rained a little bit here. In that case, so I was told, I would have to give the bus driver some cash.

I will leave Sichuan tomorrow. Had an amazing time.

As I ran out of English options I have to use Chinese. Bu neng shuo hua. Spechless. Again.
I now this starts to get boring but it is the truth.

I was preveliged to have the chance to attend a Tibean Sky Burial this morning. An absolutely incredible experience.
Maybe the most extreme I have ever had.
Sky Burial is a truly beautiful way to celebrate the end of a human life.
I am completely emotional right now. Messed up. Ough. Aia.

These memories will be with me for my life.

Went out to climb the hills beyond the monasteries to see the stars. At this altitude and this remote of a location really beautiful. Unfortunately got chased away by one of the rowdy dogs that linger around here. Scary moment.

Still have not eaten lunch or dinner.
What a day!

Speachless. Again.

Did my laundry this morning. In the well, of course. Then started wandering through Litang, especially the Tibetan part of town and the monasteries.

I do not know where to begin.
People are beautiful. Character. Their faces tell life stories. Tibetan families (up to four people) cruise the streets on their motorbikes. People stop on the street and just look at you. They touch you. Say “hello”. Shake your hand. Little children and elder people, anyone actually, asks you to take a picture of them. Monks, wild looking Tibetan men with long black hair, beautifully dressed Tibetan women and few Chinese wander the streets. In one of the monasteries an old monk approached me and said “ok”. He then showed me trough the monastery and offered me drinks (boiling water with sugar) and snacks (sugar, some kind of flour, some sort of yak cheese and boiling water mixed in a cup with the finger and eaten with the finger). We talked a while, he told me about his encounter with the Dalai Lama. A little girl posed proudly for a picture, then grabbed me by the hand and took me to her home, where I met the family. They offered me tea and fresh milk. I went up one of the hills close to the monasteries. Little kids playing wanted to pose for picture. I sat there and talked to them for a while. They looked at my guide book and pointed to any caucasian face asking me if that was me. They played with my camera, as if they had never seen one.

Just amazing. My heart is full of impressions. This was quite some day.

The setting for all this. Litang lies on flat grassland plain, on 4014m, surrounded by mountains. The monasteries are halfway up the hill, overlooking the plane. Skies are as blue as they can get. Small white clouds seem so close you think you can touch them.

After writing this all down, I think I can say this has been of the most amazing, beautiful days of my life.

. -

Compared to other people altitude has not been a big problem so far. A little headache, sometimes shortness of breath and quite tired. The sun is intense. You can very easily get burnt.

And.
Yes. There is an internet cafe. Yes. There is cell phone reception.

Still. This place is off the world.
Or better. This place is the world?!

Strolled through the monasteries today. And climbed a small mountain.

Tomorrow early morning off out west to Litang.

. - “Surrounded by snow-capped peaks and resting on open grassland at an altitude of 4014m, Litang will leave ou breathless in more ways than one. Tibetan culture abounds here.”

I am very excited.

It is possible that I will not have internet access in the next days.
See you soon.

I have to go to bed.

Went to Tagong today. Seven hours on bumpy roads.
This is Tibet.
A completely different world. I saw maybe 10 Chinese people on the way. Tourists in their own country.

There is one word, 8 letters to describe today.

P A R A D I S E .

No time and no words to go into details. I am dead tired.

In Kangding now.

Got here after an amazing bus ride through green, fertile plains and deep cut valleys, trough tunnels and over high passes, most the time along a gorgeous, wild river. It is such a different thing to see the countryside. The villages. Nature. A very very different China.
Again and again rocks and huge boulders blocked part of the road. One time there was only one lane, the other lane had fallen into the river. At some point we stopped for lunch. I got to talk to some monks, who were on the way to their monastery in northwestern Sichuan. At another point we had to stop for a good 20 minutes, because the road was completely blocked. A landslide had gone down just minutes ago. They cleared the road quickly (it is obviously not a rare thing to happen) from the huge boulders and opened one lane for traffic.
In Switzerland, this road would have been closed a long time ago and various teams of geologists would be assessing the dangers.

Well. This is China. And I love it.

Kanding is a small town with lots of traces of Tibetan life. Monks and women in traditional colorful clothing wander the streets and markets. Prayerflags. There are also Tibetan restaurants. I ate Yak twice today and also had cups of butter tea. The hostel is right next to the monastery, which is being remodeled. Everything is extremely colorful and just beautiful.

Amazing. A dream.

Kangding is mostly Chinese, however. Very typically so, too. The architecture, the restaurants, the shops. At night hundreds of people gathered at the central square and danced along loudspeaker music, just like it can be seen in many other Chinese cities and town. The language is harder and harder to understand and less and less people understand me. So far everything has worked out, though.

As I am writing this, some people gather around me or pass by and watch curiously. I type so quickly they say, and my Chinese is good. And they give advice on a Chinese instant messaging program that has no use to me. And they tell me they had gone to all the places, I have pictures of on the blog. Of course. And they ask me what time it is. And they ask me again what time it is. And they start to sing songs. And everyone of them asks me if I use the Internet (YES. I am.) And they say something about cigarettes and many many other things I do not have a chance to understand.

I will bring this to an end. It is a lot of BLA. Excuse me - I am excited.

Also. It is so nice to not sweat 24 hours a day. Temperatures are very comfortable, the skies blue. Have not had that for weeks.
And. In the hostel lobby hangs a tacky drawing of the Matterhorn! How about that.

Managed to get some pictures online.

Pingyao - street scene.

Pingyao - view from the city wall.

Xian - train station ticket counters. No comment.

Xian - lotos lake park.

Leshan - street scene with rickshaws.

Leshan - yep. That is him.

Leshan - scenic beauty and pure humidity.

Leshan - Great Buddha. View from the river.

Chengdu - downtown.

Chengdu - Mao’s humble greetings.

Came back to Chengdu last night. Stayed in a fantastic hostel. An oasis in the middle of this typical huge and gray Chinese city. An old warehouse transformed into a super modern, stylish and cozy place.

Chengdu is tropical. Palm trees and lots and lots of humidity. It kills.
Did I mention that before?

Well. Tomorrow morning, I will start my journey out west. A seven hour bus ride takes me from Chengdu (altitude ca. 400m) to Kangding (altitude ca. 2700m) the gateway to Tibet, which covers not only the official Autonomous Region of Tibet, but also parts of the Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

I am very, very excited.

Just a really quick update to let you know where I am.

Now at Leshan, some 2 hours south of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. I spent the last night stuck in Xi’an. All trains and buses out of there were booked out for days. Crazy.
Well I completely changed plans, and decided this morning to fly out to Chengdu. I arrived in the evening and took a bus to Leshan. It was dark when I came here, but it is supposively a very nice place. Main attraction is one of the biggest buddha statues in the world, cut out of rock, overlooking a river.

I will see tomorrow.
I am extremely tired. Humidity is killing.

Since Sunday, I have taken 2 flights, 2 long distance buses, 1 overnight train, loads of public buses, loads of taxis, and a few rickshaws.
Busy. Busy. Busy.

But. Travelling is a blast.