Tibet Part 1:

Tibet is going to have to be a 3-parter. I have so many photos and a ton of video to edit so I'll get to work. We were very excited to finally be flying to Tibet. Whether or not we would be able to go there was up in the air for a long time as Tibet usually closes to foreigners in March and then re-opens but this year it was only a partial re-opening. We met a lot of people in Beijing and Xi-'an that wanted to go but got shut down. Since we were all one family and all one nationality we got through where larger tour groups didn't and then when they lost our visa I thought we were done but the China Travel Company got us there. Our first views of the mountains!

When we landed we got these silky white scarves as a symbol of welcome. Click HERE to find out more about them. It was much colder than in Chengdu.

We met our driver and guide, Namgil and headed toward Lhasa. Here's a picture of the river that turns into the Brahmaputra River farther down.

Namgil told us that we would be stopped by the authorities a few times before getting to Lhasa and that we should never take pictures of Chinese soldiers because we could all get in a lot of trouble. The military presence was very heavy when we were there. In fact most Tibetans can't even go to Lhasa anymore because they don't have the right papers. It's so sad because it's a pilgrimage that most of them want to take. Apparently the Chinese do not want the Tibetans getting together in large groups because they are worried about revolts. But the Tibetans are non-violent toward others for the most part. When they protest, they usually do it by hurting themselves so it seems pretty unnecessary if you ask me. Here's Namgil with our Tibetan permit trying to get us past the first check-point.

Our hotel was AMAZING! It was hand painted in incredible detail - this continued through the stairways and corridors and even into our room. It was traditional and such a close walk to Barkor square. Right where you want to be.

Detail view of the ceiling:

Teddy in front of the hotel front doors:

At this point Jeff and the kids started to feel sick. We were warned about altitude sickness but I was like "That's not gonna happen to US right guys?!? ... um guys??". Jeff said it felt like 5 beers + a hangover at the same time. They thought they needed food so we headed out to get some. We found this cool restaurant with a view of the Jokang Temple and I ordered traditional Yak butter tea. Soooo weird. Like funky tea with curdled something. Not awful but something that you'd have to grow up with to appreciate. Then the kids started puking. Talk about a Tibetan buzz-kill....

So I got our food to-go while Jeff and the kids beat a hasty retreat back to the hotel. When I got back they were all down for the count looking horrible and quietly moaning. I was seriously considering calling for a chopper evac or something. But they all fell asleep and I took our food to the roof and celebrated my first night in Tibet with some Yak meat and a view of the Potalla Palace.

The next morning everyone was feeling a bit better. Not fully better but definitely on the mend. So we knew that the only thing we could do was wait for them to acclimatize and keep the pace slow. We set out to explore Barkor Square. The smells of Tibet! I wish these pages had a scratch and sniff. I will always remember that unique smell of Yak butter + incense.

We started at the front of the Jokang Temple. Tibetans are DEVOUT. Humblingly devout. They have so much less than we do and their religion means so much to them. It's so unjust and frustrating that many of them are unable to come to these holy sites to visit when it clearly is important to them. These people were repeatedly prostrating themselves in front of the temple.

Part of the pilgrimage is to walk around the temple (which is Barkor Square) in a clock-wise direction. They pray, chant, and spin prayer wheels as they go. The prayer wheel is a very important religious item. Many Tibetans are illiterate but there are prayers written down inside the prayer wheel. They believe that as it spins the prayers on the outside and the prayers written on paper inside go up to God. Most people walk this route. But the truly devout do it one body length at a time, prostrating themselves all around the entire outside of the temple. We saw many people doing this. It takes them hours. So the square road around the temple is part church, and part market place with everyone moving in the same direction. You have to go clock-wise around.

Prayer wheels and incense.

Tibetan women all wear these colorful striped aprons. Their clothes are very beautiful.

The route around the Temple in the morning. Not very crowded yet. Kind of like Fantasyland at 10am....

We ran into Nam-gil's father in law and son! He was so proud to introduce us to his little-guy!

Nam-gil was amazing, and by far the best guide we had on our trip. He figured us out very quickly and realized we didn't want to go do Touristy things as much as we wanted to see the real Tibet. He took us down a side street to a temple tucked away. It was packed and there were NO tourists there at all. We could not take pictures inside but I got a bit of video you'll see later. The temple was completely full. It was very dark and there was row after row of people sitting on the ground, spinning their hand-held prayer wheels and chanting. The smells of incense and yak butter candles were intoxicating. And the sounds were mesmerizing. What Nam-gil told us next had me completely floored. He said that people come to this temple to pray for world peace, an end to hunger and world-wide conflict. Wow. So how do we pray? I don't know about you but I'm pretty selfish about it. I usually have a laundry list about cares and loved ones and all of it is about my family and my life. These culturally rich but economically poor people were spending hours of their time praying not for themselves but for the rest of the world. It literally brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it. So remember the next time you're having a bad day - a Tibetan is praying for you.

Spinning the larger prayer wheels on our way out.

When we got back to the Temple square it was getting busier. And I needed some time to process what I had just seen. Namgil took us back into the maze of side-streets to a Traditional tea-house.

On the way we passed these women making and selling flat bread similar to naan. The kids love that so we bought some for pennies and then went inside the tea house to sit down.

The tea comes in these metal milk jug looking things and it costs just about nothing for a large container. And it tastes amazing. Like the milkiest, creamiest chai tea you've ever had. Nothing I've tasted really compares but a good chai comes closest to describing it.

We ate our bread with our delicious tea and just tried to digest our first morning in Tibet.

Chengdu

 China Video, Chengdu: Click Here!

I'm warning you, if you're not into adorable creatures, skip this post. There's one big reason to go to Chengdu (other than spicy food) and that's Pandas. So this blog post is going to be all about them. Pandas are adorable. Seriously. If you've only seen pictures of them then you have to see them in person. They're hilarious and squishy. The kind of animal you wouldn't mind getting mauled by as long as you could get a hug in first. Clear this plane, we're ready to go!

Chengdu reminded me more of Singapore than the first 2 Chinese cities we have visited. Lots of Prada and Gucci ect. This is where the whole "Red China" thing breaks down. It's like "yeah, yeah I know you're all communists but I'm gonna have to call you out on that based on the 4 Mini-Cooper dealerships and the Louis Vuitton store we just passed....." Please!

We fell into bed, woke up early and scarfed breakfast so we could have plenty of time to visit the pandas before boarding our plane to Tibet. We stopped in the Panda kindy first. These guys were all about 1 year old and they were ADORABLE! But they were inside so the pics are all kind of dark.

We want one!

Then we saw some adult pandas. They are hysterical. The way they use their hands to eat bamboo is so like us. They really just need a Barca lounger and flat screen TV so they can watch Animal Planet while they're snackin'!

Just eating away...  Pandas only eat a special kind of bamboo that grows at higher altitudes so all the bamboo they eat has to be shipped in from higher up. And these guys eat A LOT of bamboo. So keeping everyone fed is a pretty big and expensive job.

Next we saw the red pandas. I didn't even know we were going to see them and I LOVE them! They are like a cross between a panda and a raccoon. They have the cutest faces you've ever seen. I'm talking adorable like a baby harp seal....

Heading for the trees!

They spend a lot of their time climbing into trees. They're very agile, UNLIKE their fat black and white cousins. Look at that cool tail!

Exhibit A: Not going to climb a tree... Seriously though, how can you not love the way they lie all over each other while they just eat and eat...

We watched this group of teen-agers for a long time. They were hysterical! My fav was the one standing up. He stayed in that spot the whole time, just kickin' it. The only thing he needed was a backward baseball cap.

Lovin' the Pandas.

On our way out we stopped to incorporate some new family members into the fold. So now we have Pandy and Melody. Nothing like getting adopted and getting right on a plane. As it turns out, our Panda friends would do a lot better with the high altitude of Tibet than their new owners...

Xi'an

  China Video Part 2: Xi'an (Click Here!)

 When we last left the trip we were boarding a train to Xi'an. The train was a BIG adventure and lots of fun. Here's a pic of our little compartment. If someone wanted to stand up we had to take turns. It was tight!

 I actually slept surprisingly well on the train. We woke up in the morning with about an hour to chill on the train before our arrival and the kids were more than happy to hang out on the upper bunks with their D.S. things. Thank goodness because we wouldn't have all fit sitting down below. I can't imagine sharing one of these units with 3 strangers!

 We were picked up by Mr. Bruce and Driver and they took us to our hotel for breakfast. On the way we got our first glimpse of the Ming Dynasty city wall surrounding the old central part of Xi'an. Zombie Apocalypse approved!

 Our hotel was really nice but not as charming and historic as the one in Beijing. We were only there for one night. We put all our things in our room, ate breakfast and headed out to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. This is maybe the most significant archaeological find of the last few decades. They only discovered them in the 70's and the farmer that found them is still alive and hangs out signing autographs. Talk about moving up in the world! The warriors are pretty darn cool. They are all different!

 Click on this one and you can see their faces and how they are all unique:

 That is a cubic butt-load (BL3) of terra-cotta statues. They're pretty sure that the emperor killed one real person for every statue that's in there. Wrap your mind around THAT one.

 That picture above is only one pit of THREE! In pit 2 they haven't even started excavating. They have some cool ares where you can see some of them close-up. This guy is a kneeling archer.

 My own little warrior....

 After the warriors we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda and climbed to the top. And Sasha lost her hat. There was this nice little temple where services were going on.

 The inside of the temple:

 After we climbed up the Pagoda we had an ice cream in a beautiful park. There were chickens and roosters all over the place (?) and one mama chicken had a new batch of chicks!

 Up close:

The one souvenir that Jeff wanted was a hand-carved family seal. We hung around and then found a guy that would make you a custom seal in 10 minutes. I have to admit, I was a BIG SKEPTIC about this guy's ability to hand carve a seal including the name 'STOLASZ' and a bunch of Chinese, (all of it backwards) at ALL, never mind in 10 minutes, but the dude pulled it off!

 A close-up of him making it:

 And the final product: How cool is that?!?

After the Pagoda we really wanted to see the city wall. Mr. Bruce and driver brought us there and then we wanted to just walk and hang out so we made a plan to meet them and then took off. The city wall around the old city limits of Xi-an is pretty impressive. Of course now it's just a tiny, walled-off section in the middle of a modern, sprawling city, but back then everything inside the wall was it. And let me tell ya, they were well protected in there. That wall is something else. And the top of it is so wide and so nice it's like having a public park that goes on for miles!

 The city wall with some of the old guard buildings.

 That night for dinner we had a traditional dumpling banquet - something Xi'an is famous for. I don't have pics of this but there is plenty of video in the move clip at the top of this post. Then we headed home and got ready to hit the sack early because our flight to Tibet was at 7am. I was just getting out the cold-weather clothing when I got a call from Lhasa. It was someone from our travel company and they told us that the government lost our Tibet visa! They had scrambled and re-applied and gotten it again as of 5pm but there was no way to get it to us by our flight in the morning. So they wanted to know if we would be willing to fly to Chengdu the next day and see the Giant Pandas first and they would have someone fly FROM TIBET to meet us to hand us our visa so we could then board a plane to Tibet. Were we willing to do that?!? You betcha! And I was more than just a little bit astounded and grateful for how much trouble everyone in the organization had gone through to fix an unforseen travel snafu. What a bunch of rock-stars! So we packed away the Tibet stuff and got ready to head to Chengdu.
The next day we had some time to kill before our flight so after a nice breakfast we tried out the hotel pool:

Then we headed to the famous Muslim district to sample some street food and hunt down some lunch. It was very cool:

 The Muslim district is a tangle of food stands, vendors, restaurants and little shops. It was really fun to explore and we ended up getting a few nice little things there.

 Checking out the wares:

We pulled into a little restaurant and ordered some mystery items! It's always interesting to see the difference between what you THINK you ordered and what actually comes out. It was a fine meal though and we got to try a lot of new dishes that we had never tasted before.

Then it was time to head back to the hotel, collect our things and go to the airport for our flight. While we were waiting Sasha and I experimented with some of the cool hair thingys we got in the market place. Quite nice eh?