Greetings all, I will refrain from the usual pleasantries regarding group emails etc and get on with it.
but first
In the fashion of the modern world and peoples lives being tied so intimately into the realm of self-aggrandisement via the life-affirming medium of the internet, in which we prove to the world, and to ourselves – the inherent awesomeness of our existence, perhaps we can all agree that the group email is merely a more old fashioned but more welcome form of ‘status update’.
Please forgive that introduction as i spent 10 hours on a bus today and am subsequently a little tired, not to mention the numerous philosophical overindulgences over the course of this trip. Also, the overly florid language can be attributed to the fact I am currently most of the way through ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, an invaluble travelling companion that has, after the fashion of all great books managed to invade my dreams as well as my waking thought.
So, without further ado i would like to congratulate all of you who have made it this far into what will be (mercifully) my one and only email regarding this account of my temporary displacement from the Babylonian zoo known as Shanghai.
Our story begins with an overnight train journey from Shanghai to the ancient capital Xian where upon arriving in the hostel it became apparent that I would never find the thousand yard stare, contract the tropical disease, or be held at to ransom on the point of a spear> Events which having survived, would render me beyond all reasonable doubt, the most interesting person present at any future social gathering. Laptops flickered in unison and wireless broadband presented itself as the new kaftan, the missing piece in the authentic backpacker experience. I retired, somewhat disillusioned to my beautifully laundered sheets to sleep soundly and uninterrupted by parasites. Next day we rode bikes around the city wall in the sun and took in the famous “courtyard of the gormless tour group” followed by the world renowned “pavilion of the additional entry-fee”.
Next day, we went to that thing known the world over as the the terracotta warriors, built by some nutter, possibly to provide the unimaginative some pre-packaged worldliness. So I took some photos and felt slightly more cultured than if I’d looked for it on Google Image. The Great Wall is something which inspired feelings of awe, the warriors were far less inspiring than the amazing beef noodle soup we’d had for lunch the day before.
Fortunately we can now dispense with the cynicism (nearly) and move on to what has been my favourite thing so far. Two hours flight from Xian and you are in north-west Sichuan. Jiuzhaigou National park, a UNESCO world heritage sight and possibly the most beautiful place i have been in my life. I will not attempt to describe it except to say that if Disney had invented nature, it might look something like Jiuzhaigou. Transcendent beauty on a scale impossible to comprehend without actually being there and impossible to do justice with words or a camera. Never mind the hordes of Chinese tourists ruining all their photos by standing in shot. I call this one ‘me being delicate with water’ or ‘me demonstrating size of waterfall’ or ‘peace sign in front of lake’… you get the idea. We did manage to find solitude at many points and having paid handsomely to get in, walked the entire forty kms from top to bottom where at no point did I manage to become accustomed to the sights.
Bus to Songpan. Rode horses through Tolkienesque valleys in which Yaks frolicked and goats pranced amongst fields of buttercups. Onwards up mountains to heights of 4500 meters in which misfortune may have cost you the use of your extremities had you fallen off. Good natured larrikins for guides, lots of conversation concerning bowel movements, getting wet, playing Chinese poker. Great times.
10 hours to Chengdu over earthquake ravaged highway. Our last experience at ticking the boxes (Xian) left us decidedly cynical so we decided to “F&*^ the Pandas” and instead, got cheap massages and an absolutely outstanding Sichuanese meal. 50 AUD for our temporary party of 5, WITH BEER and more deliciousness than is right for mere mortals to consume. Value that won’t laze itself to extinction. Twats.
One day too many in Chengdu due to earthquakes in Yunnan. Had our one and only fight (re: travel arrangements) then got a 33hr sleeper bus to Lijiang taking a tour of China’s most disgusting rest stops on the way. Lijiang is a touristy version of ‘Ye Olde Chinae’ but is the jumping off point for Tiger Leaping Gorge and despite being a little tacky, has a great bar with an outstanding view over the “old town”. Tiger Leaping Gorge is 3 hours of uphill agony to the less fit (me) but thouroughly rewarding when the clouds clear and the road levels to lead you under peaks that would inspire vertigo in giants and over a river that has the ferocious intensity of a… lion. We spent an extra day due to its overall pleasantness and also because the guesthouse where we stayed had a terrace.
10 hours on two buses and…
Now I am in a hostel in a place called Tengchong. A sleepy town town near the border of Burma and Tibet in Yunnan province. Tomorrow we will lounge in volcanic hotsprings and the day after (weather permitting) take a hot air balloon over a volcanic reserve. After that we will lose one third of our three (Susie) and Paul and I will venture further into the heart of darkness.
Simon