China.
A quick overview, for posterity's sake:
Kunming (Yunnan) - Qiaotou - Tiger Leaping Gorge - Lijiang - Lugu Lake (Yunnan-Sichuan border) - Xichang (Sichuan) - Emei Shan - Chengdu - Songpan - Langmusi - Xiahe (Gansu) - Lanzhou - Xi'an (Shaanxi) - Beijing!
A month of solo travel, a ton of incredible experiences, and, basically, too much to write about. So if you really want to hear about the whole thing, come talk to me; I have here chosen a few impressions and stories that stand out to me.
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Tiger Leaping Gorge: One of my favourite hikes to date, I do believe. The guesthouses are stunning, the scenery is breathtaking, the trail is a challenge, and the last trek down to Tiger Leaping Rock is totally worth it.
I also had great company for this hike: two funny British girls named Haz and Millie, who helped turn an awesome hike into a fantastic one. I began in a tiny town called Qiaotou and headed out early the next morning. That's the way down the gorge!
Getting started . . .
The trail was tons of fun, often with a sheer drop off to one side.
There were guesthouses scattered along the trail, and the one we stayed in, Halfway Guesthouse (misleading name; it was actually past half), was perfectly situated for stunning views of the mountains.
And I don't really take toilet photos anymore, but this one deserved it.
At the end of the trail is an optional second path down to the river, which we, of course, took. First you climb wayyyy down . . .
And then across this bridge . . .
And then you're in out in the river on Middle Tiger Leaping Rock!
It was fantastic. If you're ever out in Yunnan, make sure you hit it up!
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Emei Shan: This one is a holy pilgrimage mountain, which means endless kilometres of stone stairs winding up a mountain scattered with temples and monasteries. Your fellow pilgrims are many at the bottom and the top, but they become mostly young students on after-graduation trips and tiny, wrinkled old ladies in the middle, which is full of beautiful mountain scenery.
The left peak in the distance is the Golden Summit.
The early-morning view from the roof of the monastery/temple I stayed in overnight.
The actual hike aside, if you do make it to the top, the gigantic gold statue and accompanying temples are above the cloud level, it's as ethereal as it is freezing cold, and the tour groups are wearing matching parkas from the Coat Rental stall at the bus stop a few minutes from the top.
The monks feed the monkeys, as do the tourists, and so they are rambunctious, cheeky, and terrifying (Digression: As a Canadian, I feel as though I have a deeply ingrained and very healthy fear of wild animals. When I drive to church, there are deer crossing signs on the road. I've seen a porcupine on the sidewalk walking home from work, and all the park trash cans in Calgary are bear-proof. China, however, no longer has the wildlife that it once did, and the people seem to be missing that healthy fear . . .).
My first encounter with a Tibetan Macaque: I am harmlessly climbing the stairs, minding my own business, and I feel his hand (?) on the back of my leg. Whirling around as slowly and calmly as possible (thinking only of what I would have to do to get a rabies shot within the shortest time possible if he bit me), I am trying in vain to decide what to do to get him to stop climbing on me and, thankfully, trip over the next stair. My flailing freaks him out and he disappears to let me continue, a little shaky about encountering further macaques.
My second: I've got my camera in my pocket for easier access, but the wrist strap is hanging out - mistake. I and another tourist are watching this macaque a little ways ahead of us on the path, and all of a sudden he's right beside me with his fingers on my camera strap. NOT about to let that happen, I grab the strap as well with one hand, and, with the other, start hitting the monkey with the iced tea bottle I was carrying. After a few head shots (I do feel bad!), he let go of the camera strap, took the bottle instead, backed off, ripped the cap off and drank it. Cheekily. I'm still not sure who won that one.
And I did make it up and down the mountain alive and well, despite the monkeys and the multitude of stairs.
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Chengdu: Yup, pandas. That happened.
Except I think the red pandas were better.
The real highlight of Chengdu, however, was actually not the pandas but meeting up again with a fellow Canadian named Brendan I had met in the Kunming airport. He was a great tour guide, wonderful company, and way cooler than me. I'm thankful he didn't seem to realize it, though, and was willing to spend the day with the crazy laowai traveling China. Thanks again, Brendan!
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The Northwest: Songpan was the first town on the route, and it still stands as the smoothest entrance to anywhere. I arrived at the bus station, booked my bus out the next day, walked across the street to a charming guesthouse with tons of availability, and was handed a cup of tea while I filled out my registration. How stellar. Maybe that's why, but Songpan is my favourite, I do believe. I chatted with an owner of a fur wholesale store, bought my favourite scarf ever from two hilarious ladies, and ate (spicy!) yak meat and a delicious ice cream sandwich while wandering the backstreets and walled inner city of the tiny frontier town. The best!
And my Tibetan breakfast with yak butter tea.
. . . which was, admittedly, not my favourite. Glad I tried it, though!
The Northwest just got better and better after Songpan, as impossible as that may have seemed. Langmusi was equally small, but the whole town - no exaggeration - was under construction, which lent it a laid-back air of delightful chaos. At one time a nomad family drove their entire few-hundred-head of sheep right down the main street, with a horse, a dog, and a guy on a motorbike. Funniest part? No one cared. And then a few hours later it was a huge herd of yaks.
I did a two-day horse trek and homestay in Langmusi, and it was incredible. My guide, whom I called Zorro, spoke Chinese but didn't speak English (he knew 'Hello!', 'horse', and 'thank you'), and his lovely wife only spoke Tibetan, so verbal communication was limited, but I loved the time I spent with them!
The only unfortunate part is that I became terribly ill while there. But I survived!
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Beijing: I visited Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. Check, check, check, check. I also toured the National Museum (largest in the world) with a 7th-grade teacher from Florida, spit cherry pits over the Great Wall (onto the Mongolian side, naturally) with a Brit and an American, and met ex-Morningsiders Katherine and Connor and a few others in Beijing for delicious Peking duck. To be completely honest, the capital wasn't my favourite. But that doesn't mean I didn't still enjoy myself!
Joanna and I in the National Museum:
The Great Wall, overgrown and unrestored (and still way cool):
The crew after Peking duck and a rainstorm (plus Katherine's sister visiting from the States, who kindly took the photo!):
Miscellaneous:
I miss baozi.
I love the way Chinese people use public spaces. And I love the way Chinese men half-shirt.
Wild Swans by Jung Chang - read it, people.
I made a baby cry on a train and almost made a girl fall over on a hike.
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On the plane ride home, I read Tolkien's The Hobbit. I wrote this on the last flight:
"Bilbo goes off on this grand adventure for a year, doing things completely foreign to him, succeeding despite their difficulty and a few mishaps, and then, gratefully, returns home a different hobbit. And a better one, I would say. It resonated with me deeply. As I left Calgary on my last flight to Regina, I could see downtown in the distance with the Rockies rising against the clear, bright, blue sky behind them, and a line Bilbo says in the last chapter seemed to fit too perfectly: 'But our back is to legends and we are coming home. I suppose this is the first taste of it.' My sentiments exactly."
Too true. I loved China, still do, and wouldn't change a thing about that last month. Potentially the hardest thing I've ever done? Yes. Worth it? Yes.
