Tuesday, October 25, 2005
I Love Hong Kong
In planning this trip, I selected Hong Kong simply because it was the best way to get to China and Tibet using frequent flyer miles. Unfortunately I scheduled very little time there - but it was love at first sight. I could live there. The city is actually a grouping of hilly islands and peninsulas surrounded by water. The hills are covered with new skyscrapers that average 50 floors(?) I would guess that Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated (person/ square foot) countries in the world. It is also a combination of the brand new and ancient traditional. Before my 27 hour flight home I wanted to pick up some novels written in English to read during the flights. I was directed through a huge open air market place selling flowers, fish, meats, and anything else you can imagine, but it felt like stepping back in time. The woman selling fish was actually using metal weights attached to a string to weigh the fish for customers. My final destination was the Times building where I was directed to the 9th floor. In between 1 and 9 was every high end store you can imagine; stores that you would find in the very pricey section of any city. Being in the Times building was like being in the US, except that everyone was oriental. In Hong Kong almost everyone speaks English and you are left alone as you browse through the open air shops on the streets. It is such a comfortable yet exciting place. Anything is possible in Hong Kong and it is easy to pick up on the excitement of the place. It is definitely another city where I will return. I regret that I had enough time only to touch the surface of the city, but also, my attention was on the end of my journey and the long trip home. I thought the trip would cure my wonderlust. Unfortunately it is worse now than ever. The trip was a tease to all the wonderful unexplored places out there.....Thanks for travelling with me on my excellent adventure. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Happy Trails to us all....Marion
Monday, October 24, 2005
Tibet: the Roof of the World
Tibet should come with a warning: it is painful for your body, but even more painful for your heart. The body pain comes from Tibets' altitude. Of all the countries in the world, Tibet is the highest. In a moment of total stupidity I decided not to take my pills for altitude sickness and paid for this decision. Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, where I stayed, is at 14,000 feet and the highest part of Tibet is 16,000 ft. At 14,000 feet oxygen is at 65% of what it is at sea level. The result was 3 days of excrutiating headaches, always gasping for breath, continuous chest pains, and a cold. Eating dinner at the hotel was like being in the hospital. We tourists were truly a ragged looking group. I was tempted to use Valerie's expression; "you want some cheese with that whine?".....The pain in my heart, however, is a different matter. You really can't talk about Tibet without touching on their sad political situation. Like Bhutan, Tibet is strongly Buddhist. For centuries Tibet was ruled by a succesion of Dalai Lamas, men who served as both political and religious leaders of Tibet. The Buddhist religion teaches non-violence and the Dalai Lama is a living example of those teachings. For centuries Tibet was a country untouched, protected by the surrounding mountains. Tibetans lived their compassionate peaceful existence until Oct 7, 1950. Here is a paragraph from a tour book that summarizes the change;....."Unknown to the Tibetans, the communist takeover of China was to open what is probably the saddest chapter in Tibetan history. The Chinese "liberation" of Tibet was eventually to lead to 1.2 million Tibetan deaths, a full-on assault on the Tibetan traditional way of life, the flight of the Dalai Lama to India and the large-scale destruction of almost every historical structure on the plateau." To this day the Dalai Lama continues to live in India, waiting for the day when he will be restored to his rightful place in Tibet.......Visiting Tibet made me realize how quickly the Tibetan culture is vanishing and the Chinese culture is taking over. (Visit now while you have a chance!!!) The few temples that are still standing are riddled with destruction from the Chinese invasion. Almost overnight, Lhasa has been turned into a shopping mecca. Chinese is the language seen everywhere with Tibetan seen and heard mainly in the temples. All Tibetans must speak Chinese in order to get work. The Chinese army is everywhere. Loptsong, my guide, was taking me to a beautiful temple close to my hotel. A visiting Chinese dignitary was using the temple for a meeting and hundreds of soldiers in riot gear kept the religious pilgrims and tourists from getting close to the temple. It is truly heartbreaking. If you want to learn more about this issue and see the gorgeous scenery near Tibet, do see the movie "Seven years in Tibet." It is the true story of Tibet and the Dalai Lama before, during, and after the Chinese takeover. Interestingly, the movie is banned in Tibet.....Despite all my kvetching, I loved being in Tibet. You can't look at the temples and mountain scenery without being awestruck. The Tibetan marketplace is huge and gives you a rare opportunity to interact with the Tibetans. A warning - yak is an important part of Tibetan life, both as a beast of burden and as food. Butter is made from yak milk and the national drink - butter tea - is made by pouring hot water over yak butter. Yummy! I also had sweet and sour yak for dinner. It tasted like beef......A warning to Tibet - I will return for at least a week and this time I will take my pills for altitude sickness.....Farewell for now. Next stop Hong Kong and the 27 hour trip home. Happy Trails, Marion
Pictures Below from China!
Pictures Below from China!
People I met selling their vegetables across the street from one of the tourist sites. The woman with the tomatoes kept hitting me in the arm and yelling "Hey, hey, hey!" I finally started hitting here back and yelling "what, what, what?" Everyone started laughing at that point and she couldn't keep a straight face .
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Xi'an China; All the King's Horses and all the King's Men
Just before leaving Mumbai, the devastating quake hit Pakistan and parts of India. I didn't want my Brother Eddie to worry, so I gave him a call. Unfortunately my math was off and I called him at 3am his time. Eddie wasn't worried. Eddie was asleep and oblivious to anything going on in the world. Timing is everything....From Mumbai I flew to Hong Kong and then a quick trip to Xi'an China, a very special place for me. I was in graduate school in March 1974 when I picked up a copy of Time magazine with a picture of the terra cotta warriors from Xi'an on the cover. Six local farmers had been digging a well when they discovered a piece of terra cotta which led to what many feel is the greatest archeological find of the twentieth century. This led to the excavation of the burial grounds of Emporer Qin Shi Hung (259-210 bc), the first emporer to unify the 7 warring states into what is now China. He became King at the age of 13 and spent most of his reign and his country's money on preparing for his afterlife. The project took 720,000 workers and 39 years to complete. In order to protect him in the afterlife, he had over 7,000 life-sized terra cotta horses and armoured warriors created as well as more than 100 wooden charriots and many exquisite ancient weapons. To me the most fascinating aspect of the find is that each warrior is an individual - they are all different and each one was possibly modelled after real soldiers in his army. The details are exquisite. Since seeing the original magazine article, I have seen numerous pictures, but I wasn't sure how they would be displayed. My "terra cotta warriors" guide, who called himself Nebraska, led me to an enormous gymnasium-type structure that covered the area of 3 football fields. Walking inside, I found the warriors lined up in military precision facing me, looking up from the furrow created to free them from the earth. The effect is profound: the silent warriors who have been hidden for so long are standing in formation in a kind of half-light that protects them from fading. It was worth the wait! No amount of imagination can prepare you for that first impact. I spent hours taking pictures of all 3 sites. Even though 100s of archeologists have been working on the site since the 70s, most of the work is ahead. The work is painstaking and the warriors greeting you have all been constructed from the shards found at that location. ......After several hours, I bid Nebraska good by and headed on to the next stop; the actual grave site of Emporer Qin Shi Hung, just down the road from his warrior protectors. A very quick tour there and then on to the final part of the day, a visit to Huaqing Palace. Originally the palace was built by Chinese Emporers to take advantage of a natural hot springs flowing there. What made it famous was the great love affair between Emporer Li Long ji and Lady Yang. The Emporer had 1000s of concubines when he noticed and fell in love with Lady Yang. She was the 18 year old concubine of his son, but the son, seeing that his father was in love, gave Lady Yang to him as a gift. The emporer was so in love with her that they would spend months at the Huaqing Palace, singing, dancing, playing cards, and soaking in the tubs fed by the hot springs. (I think this is where the concept of California was born). The story also has political intrigue and the Emporer was forced to kill Lady Yang by cutting her throat. He lived the rest of his life in misery, missing her terribly, but after his death they were once again reunited in love - or so the story goes.....Romance nothwithstanding, I had to say farewell to Xi'an and board a plane for Tibet. Stay tuned and happy trails......Marion
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