All quiet on the Western front

So, there has been radio silence since we landed back in the UK, and that's because it's been incredibly hectic. After nature intervened with a volcano, and delayed our homecoming by 6 days, we were thrown in at the deep end with no time to readjust - straight back to work, unpacked backpacks and boxes all over the house, mountains of laundry and other miscellaneous household chores just waiting to be tackled. Throw the wedding into the mix, and you have complete, non-stop chaos... And so the blog has taken a backseat to real life for a while.

At the risk of boring you all with the minutiae of my Bridezilla antics (my new motto being: 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'), I will restrict this first post at least to non-wedmin anecdotes - though as I seem to spend most of my time with a bridal magazine on the table in front of me, a pair of scissors in one hand and a pritt stick in the other compiling a scrap book, I can't promise that you will be so lucky next time... and apologies for that in advance.

So - of all the places to be stuck, Ben and I had to end up in QATAR. A dry state, when all you really want is a cold beer or chilled glass of wine. *sigh* On the plus side, we were staying in a nice hotel, for free, with an all you can eat buffet 7-10, 11-3 and 5-9 - so we had comparatively little to complain about when many people were sleeping on airport chairs or floors (as here in Milan airport)... or stuck in the Maldives in a 5* resort with a family of four.*

After three days in Doha, we were pulling our hair out with boredom (not just because there was no alcohol, but admittedly this was a major factor...) and we hopped on an unscheduled flight to Rome, that had letters instead of a flight number and did not show up on any departures or arrivals boards or websites in Doha or Rome. Mysterious! At least it wasn't cancelled like all of these flights...

I can assure you the flight did exist, as we arrived gleeful and safe in Rome on Sunday 18 April - the day before we were both set to start work after our respective 'career breaks'. Less than ideal - but what could be done?

I begged and begged Ben to stay in Rome for one night so I could sample the delights if Italian paaaaasta, but he adopted an unusually strict stance and we found ourselves on a (free) bus to Geneva, put on by Qatar airways for those originally destined for Geneva, Zurich or Milan. Luckily they were not checking boarding passes, and we hope there weren't two unfortunate passengers stranded as we took their places....

Seventeen hours later, with two hours waiting at Milan airport in the middle of the night, we arrived in Geneva, six hours later than anticipated, and too late for any sleep in our pre-booked hotel room. *sigh* Luckily, we were there just in time to pick up the second of our booked hire cars (the first having been cancelled while we were on the bus, due to an impromptu ban on international hire), and thanks to dad for spending hours on the phone collating info about how best to get back to the UK, and availability of trains, buses and hire cars.

During the bus ride, we also managed to pick up a couple of hitchhikers on their way to Paris, and we set off on a beautiful drive through the French country side, arriving in Paris around 5pm.... and at Gare du Nord at around 7pm - exhausted and in desperate need of a nap after a gruelling 45 hours on the move. Luckily, Ben's mum had stepped in and saved the day by booking us into a lovely hotel just off the Champs Elysee.

We went to a delicious and quirky bistro with Florian, but had to turn down his suggestion of a 25 minute hike up Montmartre as we were simply too exhausted. The next morning we breakfasted with Ben's parents at the George V hotel, before heading off towards Dieppe. 'Oh what a lot of time we have!' we thought, happily. But lo and behold, the roads were narrow and winding, and our cheese and wine stop in the Carrefour took a little longer than anticipated, so before we knew it, it was an hour before the deadline for check in at the ferry and we still had the hire car to drop off in the centre of town...

Ben dropped me off at the port with the luggage, and I completed some sneaky manoeuvres to manage to check us both in without Ben actually being there, which was a relief. While I waited for Ben to get back to the port, I was thoroughly entertained by everyone else's stories about their journeys across Europe. One man had run out of Parkinson's medication, and was desperate to get back. I overheard another guy on the phone to the car hire company: "So..... The rental agreement says I need to drop the car off in Avignon. Hmm. Yes. Hmm. Well, you'll find it in the Dieppe ferry port, with the keys in the ignition. Byeeee!"

Luckily, Ben made it back in time, we boarded the ferry and enjoyed some beers with our wine and cheese on the way. Ben's dad picked us up from the ferry port and drove us back to London. After not having seen us for so long, he was probably a little disappointed that our chat lasted about 7 minutes before we both conked out for the journey, and arreived home on Wednesday - six days later than planned. Ouchie! Here's hoping the insurance will pay out on that delay....

* Honestly, the things some people complained about.

Tibet - an overview

We have now arrived safely and well in Nepal after ten days in Tibet, with limited internet access and no access to facebook and blogging, etc, due to the Chinese internet restrictions.  There is so much to say about Tibet that I do not know where to start, so for the time being I will have to stick to a few highlights... We flew into Lhasa and spent 4 days there, before moving West to the border with Nepal via Gyangtse, Shigatse, Sakya, Shelkar, Everest National Park and base camp and Zhangmu (the miserable border town).

 

1. Tibet is intensely spiritual and everywhere you go there are people actively practising Buddhism - spinning prayer wheels as they go about their everyday business, adding colourful prayer flags to every possible location, prostrating themselves in front of temples and in the middle of main roads as part of their pilgrimage.* We were both in awe of Potala Palace in particular, strikingly red and white and set above Lhasa, and still very much an active spiritual centre for Tibetan Buddhism.

 

2. As it's quite difficult to get the Tibet permits for each area of the 'country' and the 'political situation is so uncertain, there were hardly any tourists in Tibet, and most of those we saw or met were staying in Lhasa only (on a cheap package deal from Chengdu in China).  We appreciated this most at Everest base camp (an awe-inspiring experience under normal circumstances) and for sunrise there, as we were literally the only tourists there.  How may great places in the world can you watch the sunrise alone these days? (See picture!)

 

3. The scenery is spectacular - the mountains are ENORMOUS and the skies were bright blue throughout our ten days there, with the exception of a light snowfall one afternoon in Lhasa, which coated the mountains around the city and made it even more beautiful.

 

4. The people are so friendly and welcoming, and this is in part because they are aware of the support in the West in the plight for Tibetan autonomy.  This extends from the city centres to the rural villages, and across all age groups.

 

5. Many things are unexpected - including caving with a monk who has lived alone for 18 years in a tiny monastery at the base of Everest, which is usually closed to the public by the Chinese military.  We were lucky on the day we were there in that the military had not turned up, and so the monk led us on a spiritual journey through TINY nooks and crevices underground, with the aim partly being to help us appreciate the natural beauty of the world - which we definitely did after emerging from 20 uncomfortable, dirty, cramped minutes in the dark into the bright lights at the foot of the greatest mountain on earth.

 

Low points included the food, the cold temperatures, the altitude sickness and the general lethargy we felt as a result of these!  Also, the Chinese government is continuing to stamp its mark over the Tibetan culture and cityscapes, for example by placing a Chinese flag in amongst each collection of prayer flags, and banning young people from joining the monastery without paying sufficient funds and collecting many government stamps and approvals.  This extent of this is really very upsetting when you hear about it from within Tibet itself and from Tibetans.

 

*Not sure if 'pilgramage'is religious-ly correct, but you get the idea...

Traditional medicine

Ben has unfortunately been struck down with altitude sickness in Lhasa.  Due to a lack of Western doctors, we visited the Tibetan hospital and picked up an exciting array of traditional medicines to combat this - black pellets and a grassy ball to make tea out of something that looks suspiciously like the panda dung on display in Chengdu last week... Bahaha!

What's in a name?

Over the last 5 years I have acquired three separate Chinese names, and various interpretations of each, and am not entirely happy with any of them.  It's quite difficult to choose a name that has the significance and meaning that you intend it to, and also one that sounds like an actual Chinese name and not some botch anglo-version.  It's common to base your Chinese name on the sounds in your own name and this can be a good starting point, though it can also be a curse - Ben's name translates quite easily to Ji Ben, with one unfortunate possible translation of... 'stupid chicken'!  Another friend's name, with one vowel sound slightly mispronounced, translated to 'Olympic Games', providing endless entertainment to taxi drivers in advance of the summer 2008 games in Beijing.

 

The comedy is frequently mirrored in Chinese people's choices of English names - for example, today there are many Enids, Gwynnies and Maudes - and it's always great to meet someone called Cherry, Dirk, or even better - Smile, who was my language partner in 2007.  We discussed business English - but even at that stage in his English learning, he was completely unaware of the unsuitability of his name - unfortunately I did not have the heart to break it to him, and I've felt slightly guilty ever since...

 

Our guide in Tibet is called Sting - another classic name - and he is proving to be possibly the most interesting 26 year old I have ever met.  As a young child, he escaped from Tibet with his mother to Dharamsala in Northern India, where he studied the teachings of the Dalai Llama.  Twelve years later, he returned to Tibet, as his grandfather was unwell and needed him here.  Without any Chinese registration permits, birth certificate or official documents of any kind (which is apparently quite common in rural China), he was classed as a political threat and spent six months in jail.  After paying a large amount of money, he managed to acquire the necessary registration documents and has spent the last six or seven years working as a guide in Tibet.  He is fiercely proud of his culture and the Tibetan people, and very knowledgeable.  Sadly, the fact that he was a political prisoner means that he has a black stamp against his name in the government books, so will never be granted a passport, and will not see his mother again unless Tibet gains independence and she could return here, or he would be allowed to travel abroad.

Tibet - we have arrived!

After so many emails, some stress and several changes to flights we have finally arrived in Tibet - and on our preferred day in the end!  We have been knocked for six by the altitude as we have flown in to 3650m directly, but we have a very sweet and informative guide and are staying in comparative luxury after a rash decision back in London to upgrade our Tibetan accommodation for the trip!  It's pretty sunny and the fleece and thermals are finally seeing some action.

 

The flight was fantastic with incredible panoramic views of the tops of snowy mountains (see pictures). Less pleasant was the aeroplane breakfast that we were subjected to this morning - cold congee, tomatoes, pickled egg and preserved radish and even the 'bread roll' did not escape the Chinese treatment, with an unidentifiable and unpleasant red meat-like paste in the centre.  We made up for this at lunchtime with a fantastic, hearty Tibetan noodle soup for 40p.  Delicious!

Chengdu and its giant pandas

Ben and I spent a few days in Chengdu while we wait for our Tibetan permits to come through, and I was quite excited about this as it's the main tourist destinations in China that I had not yet visited.  Despite being a major tourist attraction (at least, according to my guidebook....), we got a lot of attention from the locals and have not seen any other waiguoren around town - so much that we began to feela bit like celebrities with a wave and smile here and there!  We are finding everyone to be very friendly and unusually helpful - even proffering directions when we have not asked for any, hailing cabs for us and shouting 'hello' in the streets!  However, the dialect is quite confusing (the pronunciation of EI and AI and SH as A being just the tip of the iceberg) and the city (despite the population of 13 million) was SO quiet - China, but not as we know it... a disorienting experience!

 

We spent the first day eating Gong Bao Ji Ding* (see picture!**) and wandering around the temples and parks.  As it was a Sunday, the locals were out in force - dancing, doing taiqi, singing, flying kites etc, and it was really fun just to observe the community in action.  Of particular note was the Green Ram Taoist temple, which had several unusual bronze figures - the eponymous ram, and another figure which has characteristics of each of the four Chinese mystical animals - these figures are then rubbed for luck and to remove life's troubles, and after rubbing a part of the animal, you are supposed to rub the corresponding part of yourself.  This is all done very vigorously!

 

On our first evening we went out for hotpot (another Sichuan speciality, and renowned for being very spicy).  OBVIOUSLY we ordered a non-spicy soup, and although we were assured that it was not spicy we were greeted by a dark red, chili-filled, bubbling angry-looking broth - see picture for the evidence!  Our bright red, sweating faces caused the waitresses and the rest of the diners much amusement - but we enjoyed ourselves, and took respite in the tiny section of plain broth in the centre!

 

On our second (and last) day in Chengdu, we headed to the main tourist attraction - the Giant Panda Research and Breeding Centre, which involved an early start to get there for the morning feeding session and avoid only seeing the pandas asleep.  We saw LOTS of pandas and they are SO CUTE! The younger ones (about 2 years old) spent the morning playing and play-fighting on wooden climbing frames, and the older ones were mainly sleeping or eating - Ben has taken a particular liking to this lazy lifestyle, and is hoping to adopt the lounging, laid back eating position himself.... In terms of food, pandas eat a lot of bamboo of course - what is less documented is that they are also partial to a specially formulated 'panda bread' which was available for us to try.... it looks like a cross between oatcakes and the panda dung that was on display, and needless to say did not taste good to us!

 

On our return to the hostel we discovered that our Tibet permits had arrived, and we are all set to fly to Lhasa on 30th March.  I am REALLY excited about this, as Tibet has always been near the top of my 'to-go-to' list, but due to the difficulties in actually getting there, the expense and travel restrictions, I did not expect to have the opportunity.  

 

*Ben's - and most foreigner's - favourite Chinese dish, and a speciality of Sichuan province, where we are now.

 

** Apologies for the random order of the photos - it's the email blogging again...

Navigating Asian metropolises: rules for the road

Given our recent experience on mopeds in various Vietnamese cities, here are some tips and hints for the road...

 

1. Confidence is key!

 

2. When in doubt, position yourself next to a local doing the same manoeuvre and follow closely (similar to the well practised technique for crossing the road on foot).

 

3. U-turns are acceptable on any road, at any point - for safety, get on the inside of a car or small van and use it as a shield.

 

4. Get a horn that makes your moped sound like a big lorry.

 

5. Use said horn as a substitute for indicating, braking, notifying everyone of your general presence, etc...!

 

.... and enjoy!

Welcome to China!

We took a 7am bus lasting 8 hours across the pretty hectic border between Vietnam and China, where we handed our passports over into a massive scrum for a good half hour, and spent that time craning our necks to try and keep sight of them.

 

After the border crossing, we were asked where in Nanning we wanted to get off, so I tried our luck by asking for the airport, seeing as we had an 8.30pm flight to Chengdu. "Airport? Sure!" came the reply, and we dutifully put our bags in the appropriate section of the bus.  Two hours later we stopped on the motorway, and the man in charge shouted "Airport!" - so we got off, with about 12 other people - all of whom got into fancy cars awaiting their arrival for transfer to the airport.  Hmmm..... Of course, we had not made any such arrangement, so spotted a plane taking off in the distance and walked towards it, along the hard shoulder of the motorway for half an hour - with all our luggage - until we saw the exit for the airport, which we took (see picture of Ben above!).  Welome to China, people!

 

We arrived at about 11pm at the Loft hostel in Chengdu, where we have a room with a shared bathroom for Y100 per night.  It is essentially a cell, with hard beds, a stone floor and 'trendy' exposed brickwork walls.  The showers have mould on them and the bathrooms are an outside flight of stairs away.  I thought we had left discomforts like this behind when we got proper jobs - aparently this trip is not an extended holiday, but back to 'travelling'... *sigh*  In any event, we are stuck here for the time being as our Tibet permits are being sent to this address - so we had better get used to it and MTFU (as Rob would say..).

Hanoi and around

Vietnam is a nation of early risers - and I'm talking roughly 5am throughout the week, and I was surprised to discover that this trend continues in the north where it is much cooler and less humid than the south. As a result, Ben and I have been setting alarms for between 6 and 7.30am every day for at least the last week. Therefore, we took the opportunity to have a lie in in Hanoi, and a lazy day mainly involving, breakfast, lunch, a relaxed stroll around the pretty lake in the Old Quarter, dinner and beers. Fantastic! In the evening we ventured to the 'famous' water puppets.... Girls - you did not miss much!

In line with our recent excursions, we decided to rent (yet another) motorbike to explore the area around Hanoi, in particular the small handicraft villages in the nearby countryside. We visited a ceramics village (Ba Trang), a silk village (Van Phuc) and a SNAKE village (Le Mat) - but cowered when offered live snake for lunch. (Gross) highlight of the day was happening upon a local village's lunchtime cock-fighting session, where about 100 men were gathered around the small ring watching the cocks fight. As the only girl there, I moonlighted as the main attraction for the first 5 minutes after our arrival, but then things carried on as normal, wagers were placed and the local kids jostled to get in my camera shot. An interesting, if distasteful, stop on our journey...

Unfortunately, our last day in Hanoi did not go as planned, largely because Ho Chi Minh does not receive visitors on a Friday and we had not spotted this in our guidebook... We toured his house on stilts (not that impressive, for the record - but apparently this shows how he was a 'man of the people') and then headed for lunch, a massage and some Bia Hoi. In the end, not a bad way to spend our last day in Vietnam!

In other news, we have had our Tibetan permits issued and they are (hopefully) winging their way to Chengdu as I type - we will hopefully be meeting them there sometime before Monday and then heading to Tibet on Tuesday for 10 days. I'll be back to blogging by email while in China, so apologies in advance for the poor formatting!

Hanoi has great pavements, but they are useless as they are full of motorbikes!