Special thanks to Ram and Inbar for being awesome travel mates and for sharing their coffee!

(Don’t forget to check out the Tibet Photo Gallery here)

Favorite moments:

• Seeing all of Mount Everest in front of a beautiful sunrise
• Beautiful brilliant blue skies
• The landscape of the entire country!
• Noodles
• Herds of yaks and Tibetan antelope running beside our jeep
• Company of our travel mates

Not so great:

• Restricted travel
• Cost
• Old Tingri
• Driver and guide
• Yak meat

Total Money Spent Per Person: $601.58

Average Per Day Costs Per Person:

• Lodging: $3.63
• Food: $4.27
• Transportation: $15.50 (including train ticket to Lhasa)
• Misc: (entrance fees, tour package, beer, Everest Base Camp, postcards etc.) $62.54

Total Average Per Day, Per Person: $85.94

Number of Days: 7

Woke up smelling like a smoked yak. Compliments of the incompetent woman who can only seem to produce smoke instead of fire and her endless piles of unwashed yak scented blankets. Every time the fire would start to get going she would douse it with a health heep of sheep shit until we finally had to tell her to stop and just let it be. It was better to be cold than to die of smoke inhalation.

Everest in the Morning, Tibet

Today’s scheduled lunch stop was in a place called Old Tingri. We were supposed to spend the night there and go to the border tomorrow but, due to some irritating circumstances surrounding our guide, it was decided that we would carry on to the border town and spend the night there. Old Tingri is literally the worst place either of us has ever been. Words can describe it but not to the fullest and most accurate extent that seeing and being there would convey. Why on earth the tour companies choose this place to stop in, even just for lunch, is an absolute mystery (although we have a theory). Stray dogs are everywhere eating from the massive piles of garbage all over the town, lying in the road, beside the road, in front of shop fronts, or roaming the town which is essentially a single road maybe a kilometer in length.

Beautiful Old Tingri

A view down main street

The trash, dead dogs, and raw sewage in the ditches along either side of the road bakes and rots beneath the bright sun and produces a smell rivaling the bathrooms Lin has encountered in the recent days. But the trash is not contained in just these roadside ditches. It is strewn and piled and actively discarded in the road, along the fronts of stores, shops, restaurants, piled into corners where buildings meet, thrown into the stream at the edge of the town. It is everywhere and in unbelievable quantities.

We believe that Old Tingri serves only as a way to hasten tour groups to the border. The border is only about a 6 hour drive from Everest so there is no real need to stop for the night after 2 or 3 hours. It seems to simply stand as a way for the guides and drivers to get a paid day off. They give you the option of spending the entire afternoon and the night in this shit hole of a town (with “nice views,” they like to say) or they will take you on to the border (dumping you off a day early). So you pay for the driver and guide for 8 days but really only receive 7 days and at a rate of US$80 per day– that is a serious amount of money! Saben eyed up the scam pretty fast and was getting on our driver’s case about it. When he pushed him on why we would stay here in the first place he said that “we shouldn’t stay here, we should go to the border” and refused to say why we would ever stay here. When we asked him how far it was to the border he said it was 4 hours, we were pissed about them stealing a day from us and told him we would like to spend the night in Old Tingri and head for the border tomorrow. He said we could do this but we would be driving all day tomorrow because it would take us 8 hours to get to the border. When we pointed out the obvious time discrepancy between today and tomorrow he simply said that it was better for us to go to the border today.

After  only 4 hours, we arrived at the border town. Actually we were almost there when we were stopped indefinitely for road construction. We got out and walked around, watched the herds of goats being driven down the mountain (how did they ever get through the construction?) and even had coffee—compliments of our travel mates—beneath a waterfall going over top of the road.

Goats coming down the mountain

Word came around that the construction would carry on another hour or two and none of us wanted to hang around in the mean time. Our guide told us we were only about 10 minutes from town and we decided to just walk down and have the driver bring the bags when he came through the construction. So down we went through, over, and around some minorly perilous mountain road construction. The 10 minutes turned into a full hour by the time we actually reached the very bottom edge of the border town and our lodging for the night. It was another 2 hours and well after dark that our driver appeared with our bags (and shower supplies we all so desperately needed!) and only then could we go find some dinner, luckily not cooked by the mean bad cook at our EBC tent hotel. We celebrated a fun week and our last night together with a few beers and some brief visits to what turned out to be seedy working establishments recommended by our guide.

So although we had really enjoyed seeing Tibet, we had not enjoyed the guide and driver for a multitude of reasons. The biggest reasons being that our guide was a liar and the driver was a maniac. Each day our jeep would always be the last to leave and, through furious rates of speed and an unhealthy amount of skidding and squealing around narrow mountain curves, we would always be the first ones to the next sight. But since there are rigidly enforced rules that come with wanting to visit the highly contested region of Tibet, we had no choice but to deal with whoever and whatever the tour company decided to give us. Tomorrow bright and early, we will immerse ourselves in a whole different world, Nepal.

A quick note, we had a great time in Tibet! And although we did not enjoy the services of our driver or guide, we in no way blame Sim’s Cozy Guesthouse (whom we booked the tour through). They have been nothing short of fantastic and simply sell the tours offered by companies in Tibet. Furthermore we were warned by Sim’s that several people had complained about this company in the past but since they were the cheaper option we decided to take the risk. If you want to go to Tibet, book your package through Sim’s. If you want to really enjoy yourself and don’t mind sacrificing a little dough, pay for the better company. (As of this writing we have notified Sim’s of the problems and unsafe handling of our tour and they have been extremely pleasant. I have been told that Sim himself has been in contact with the tour company in question demanding answers. They have even been kind enough to offer a partial refund for the lost 8th day of the tour. This is a true testament to what a stand up and honest company they are)

A full day of driving with only a few stops along the way. Lunch was in a tiny unpleasant town with nothing to offer but a warm, cheap meal. We had traditional Tibetan noodles, a kind of thick noodle soup in a yak broth for about $0.45.

Everest at night

Having been in the jeep all morning, it was time for a bathroom run. The public restroom was across the street from the restaurant and it was one of the most foul places Lin has ever been or smelled. Before even getting all the way inside, there were piles of human feces by the doorway (no actual doors to be had in this restroom). That’s when the atrocious smell started. Unfortunately for Lin, she could do no better than uselessly clutch at her breathing orifices and hope the smell didn’t seep between her fingers. The stalls were 3 feet high stone divider walls with wide open entrance and absolutely no chance for any shred of privacy. To add to it, there were discarded wads of toilet paper, used lady items and places where, somehow, someone has missed the giant open trough running the length beneath each stall. And to add to that, when she got down to business, two girls from the back to stalls were leaving and, as with nearly all Tibetans we have encountered, stared quite hard at poor Lin and there was nothing she could do about it. A truly traumatizing experience that would be matched and even exceeded by one later this very same day.

Our "hotel" at Everest

After lunch we were all feeling a bit drowsy and the hours passed pretty quickly until the moment we pulled into Base Camp. Suddenly we were all very energetic and giddy at being right in front of Mount Everest. The clouds were hiding it but we were told that as evening fell, the clouds might clear off as they sometimes do. We checked into our “hotel” (a yak-scented tent with a yak-dung burning stove) and settling into some warmer clothes and waiting around for dinner and hopefully a clearer view of Everest. Nothing much going on besides regaining feeling in our legs and arses from the long drive today. That, and deciding to try the base camp out house.

Warming up by the Yak dung fire

If Lin thought the public toilet (er, trough) in that little town earlier today was bad, it was nothing compared to the EBC out house. Hmm…how to describe it properly…Fetid? Putrid? Vile? Revolting? Well, none of these adjectives are quite descriptive enough to fully convey the utter wretchedness that wafted from the door (hey—it had a door!) into the cold mountain air and into Lin’s face. She covered her face to near suffocation and tiptoed inside and sheepishly assumed the stance above a square cut hole in a wooden platform with a war zone below sending untold aromas upward into the tiny shed. Lin practically sprinted out of there with a shudder and a deep fresh breath. Oh, the toilets across the world. Too bad peeing is a daily necessity.

Ram jumping over Everest... because he can

So back at base camp, we still had a couple hours of daylight and used this time to take a shuttle bus up to the closest viewing point to see a better, hopefully clearer view of the mountain. There is a military check point right in from of the small viewing hill and we were given the two rules for the Viewing area.

1. Don’t take pictures of the tiny tent that the gaurds use to check permits. (for national secturity resons)
2. Don’t take naked photos in front of Everest.

So with these very important instructions, we left the checkpoint and allowed the guards to return to playing World of Warcraft (serious, somehow they get internet out here).

The four amigos in front of Mount Everest, its the white blob in the background

It was windy and cold but we waited around for nearly an hour in hopes of the clouds rolling back and exposing the beautiful famous mountain. By the end of the hour it was looking stubbornly unaccommodating and we boarded the shuttle bus. We had only gotten to the the tip poking through the thick clouds and while that was exciting, we were all hoping for a full view. Just as we had gotten back into the bus, the clouds pulled apart and gave a spectacular view of the entire Mount Everest.

Everest clearing off

We were stoked! Of course we all fumbled and hurried back off the bus for this lucky photo op, unsure if we would ever get to see the whole thing again. Feeling beyond elated, we made our way back down to the camp and celebrated around the shitty stove with a couple of cold Lhasa beers.

Lhasa beers over a Yak dung fire, Living the good life

As night closed in, someone wandered outside and immediately poked their face back through the tent flap excitedly inviting us outside to see the sky. It was so dark out there with not one single light in sight. It was difficult to see your hand in front of your face it was so dark. And the sky was a blue black dotted with more stars than we have ever, ever seen. It was a moment that just can not be captured in a photo and can only be truly appreciated with your own eyes. It was unreal and it was a perfect end to an already fantastic day.

Spectacular (but dangerous) driving today. Our driver is absolutely insane and drives a minimum of 100 kph around gravel covered hairpin mountain curves with the back tires skidding (and sometimes squealing) behind. We have had our share of crazy drivers but this one seems the most ridiculous of all. At any rate, we were able to see some beautiful views of Tibet as we drove toward our home for the night, a little town called Shigatse.

Yak at Yamdrok Lake

During our day we drove up and over magnificent mountains, beside unbelievably colored lakes, and even endured a minor “cow block” along the way. Yamdrok Lake was definitely a high point and though the wind blows so cold high above it, we were ecstatic at seeing such a wonderous place.

Across Yamdrok Lake

Barley "factory" along the road

Lake I can't remeber the name of

When we finally arrived to Shigatse, we were surprised at getting a cheap(ish) but very nice hotel room for just the two of us. We even had hot shower and a TV! For supper there was virtually no option but we found a literal hole in the wall local joint where we could only order what someone else was eating since the menu was entirely in Tibetan. We ended up with yak fat fried rice.

Yak-fat fried rice (is pretty tasty)

Being in Lhasa is literally being in a whole different world. It is absolutely nothing like China and it is difficult to see just why China insists on maintaining ownership over this small, poor region. The people are so wonderful and even though they do stare, they are honestly curious instead of nosy and will return your glance with a big smile.

In the streets of Lhasa

They tend to get a kick out of us trying out our few Tibetan words with them and seem to appreciate even this small attempt to better understand their culture. There are some beggars here but so far it seems like fewer than any place we went in China. The school kids (actually the girls are more outgoing that the boys) really love to shout “Hello!” to us and flash a big grin when we say hello back. Lhasa is a really nice city and feels very comfortable and seems relatively safe. (Note that this is only our own perspective and we do not know any real rates of criminal activity here. Travel with the same precautions as you would anywhere). It is a small city of only about 1 million but it feels and looks much smaller. The buildings are not very tall and the city rolls flatly across instead of up. The usual trash is here as well but really, the city is not all that dirty. We would love to spend more time here but with the prices of tours and the government restrictions, we are forced to make do with 2 short days.

The view across the valley

We spent the morning visiting the lovely Summer Palace. We grabbed a local bus which turned out pretty funny when a monk started rubbing Saben’s big red beard and laughing big belly laughs on the full bus. Everywhere we go (even back home) the monks are always up for a laugh and are a pretty good time. It didn’t take long to get to the Summer Palace and we coughed up the steep entrance fee, RMB 150. As usual there were no photos allowed inside the actual Palace residence but we were at least able to take some of the grounds.

Inside the Summer Palace

The grounds were very quiet in the morning and very few people were out and about. It is a nice restful place with plenty of trees and some poorly maintained lawns and even a decent amount of trash but there is a wealth of bright flowers and beautiful, colorful Tibetan architecture.

Paintings in the courtyard

Inside the Palace we encountered the same security cameras that are sadly a fact within every major Buddhist site in Tibet. With this in mind we would like to make a point to say that all images of the Dalai Lama are banned in Tibet (at the writing of this post this ban, in effect since 1987, has been somewhat “officially” removed but could be reinstated at any time). There have been tourists who think they are doing the monks a nice favor and bringing them pictures of His Holiness but in reality the monks can get into serious trouble with the government and are punished severely for having these. Please, please respect the delicate position of the monks and do not bring anything to them that could potentially cause trouble for them with the Chinese government.

Ribbons on the door

As we were led up through the Palace, we noted the brightly colored walls and fabrics decorating the ceiling, the window coverings, and of course the usual shrines with statues of Buddha. There are many rooms that were used for different purposes: the personal living quarters of the Dalai Lama, rooms for receiving important guests, a special room for His Holiness to receive pilgrims and other followers from a very grand, gold plated throne heavily decorated with turquoise and other gems as well as money left by the followers and plenty of white scarves that are presented to the Dalai Lama to bless. There are beautiful painted wood carvings affixed to the walls, around the doorways and plenty of large scale colorful wall murals with Buddhist symbols, other Tibetan monasteries and holy places, and scared animals.

The strangest thing we saw was the small outdoor stage that was used for performances for the Dalai Lama’s entertainment. The grounds immediately around the stage area are littered with broken beer bottles, beer caps, and other garbage. Wonder how His Holiness would feel about this…

Potala Palace

Soon enough it was time to see the most grand and unarguably most important place in Tibet: Potala Palace. It takes a while to climb up the wide, switchbacking ramps and stairs because of the altitude snatching away your breath. The views along the way are a good place to overlook the large, barren concrete “park” that sits directly opposite the Palace that was installed by the Chinese government and is heavily monitored and guarded.

The...... park?

Along the way we had to battle hoards of Chinese tourists, many of whom were intent of flashing the four of us gringos papparazzi style. What can they possibly do with all those photos they take of us?! They see westerners all the time in movies, ads, even on their own products! They do tons of business with foreigners and see loads of tourists each year. Why do they want to many photos of us??

Inside the Palace walls

Potala Palace is stunningly white perched against a vibrant blue sky. The inside resmebles the Summer Palace in decoration and typical elements as living quarters, gust receiving rooms, and altars to Buddha. The tombs of 5th through the 9th Dalai Lamas lie inside the Palace each one inside a massive gold plated, jewel encrusted stupa. The usual short doorways and narrow steep stairs are apparent here, as well as the usual wall paintings as described in the Jokhang Temple and the Summer Palace. It was a beautiful place to visit and the unbelievable sky made everything so picturesque.

Stolen shot from inside the Palace

From the palace we headed down a small path through the torn up back streets of Lhasa to a massive Buddhist shrine on a rock wall. Our guide told us that this was a strictly local place and that no tourists ever came here. This was proven a bit more than untrue when a ticket seller came over and handed us our very moderately priced tickets (3D and printed in English).

Rock wall

It is said that every figure on that wall came there naturally and that the monks from the temple simply painted them to make them more prominent. To be honest you can really see the distinct outlines of figures where the deities are painted.

Close up

We stayed here quite a while enjoying the burning incense, listening to the prayer wheels spin, and listening to the rhythmic Buddhist chat, “Om mani padme hum” which can be heard all over Tibet and is an extremely calming to listen to.

Since it is our last day in Lhasa, we spent the afternoon trolling the market for a little trinket and some postcards since China seems to be so deficient in this area. After dark we strolled down to Potala Palace once more to see it lit up in the night.

The Palace at night

The barren concrete square/park opposite the Palace has a fountain that shoots streams of water in various shapes and directions according to some very loud Chinese music. It is a fun sight to see and the square is always filled with people daring the fountain and trying to run away without getting wet.

The Fountain

Definitely a great way to end our time here in Lhasa!

When talking about a place as colorful and detailed as a Tibetan Buddhist temple, how is it possible to describe the interior without pictures? No photos are allowed inside any Buddhist temple and it makes it difficult to fully paint a picture with enough or the right words.

Monk in the temple

The sounds and atmosphere are just as important as the enormous wall paintings, the inside architecture, and the grand statues of Buddha. We began our visit to the Jokhang Temple by walking through a dimly lit old doorway with huge, heavy doors propped open to accommodate the high traffic entering and exiting the temple every minute. There was a line out the door of locals coming in to pray and pay respect to their diety and add yak butter to the candle stands to keep them forever burning.

Praying in front of the temple

It felt strange to step inside this other world that it is difficult to recall in detail all the sensory attacks that happened during our brief visit. We felt oddly out of place, not abated by the fact that every single local inside the temple was staring with wonder at us as we quietly walked by. It was like being let in on a secret, getting to see the inside and intermingle in the clockwise lines of Tibetan Buddhists worshipping their god.

The temple is divided into many smaller chambers that house statues of Buddha and other “protector” dieties behind glass cases. Each statue is painted brightly and with great detail as well as decorated with pieces of colorful fabric and quite often money from temple patrons. Each chamber is different and sometimes the dieties will have their faces covered with a piece of cloth depending on what time of year it is and if an honoring holiday or festival is going on for that particular one. These smaller chambers themselves are low and dim, lit with only a wide shallow bowl of yak butter and a candle wick constantly burning in honor of the gods. The doorways are narrow and very short, accommodating the typically small stature of most Tibetans, and creating cranial hazards for typically taller western tourists. The floors are uneven concrete and slick from the spilled yak butter that is poured for the candles in each room. Around the door frame are wooden carvings with symbolic motifs in traditional Tibetan style, often with floral patterns intermixed with gods or Buddhist symbols.

Outside on the roof of the temple

Outside these smaller chambers the walls of the temple are painted from floor to ceiling with many varying images. Sometimes these are murals of all the other Buddhist temples in Tibet, other times the paintings tell legends of the temple’s founding and who founded it. And sometimes there are paintings of Buddhist symbols or specific animals such as lambs or peacocks that are important to Buddhism. Bright yellows and oranges, deep reds, rich gold, pale green, and dark blues seem to dominate the paintings all coming together to make an astoundingly rich and intense image.

Though I could probably write all day just to describe the inside of this one temple, that was only the start of the morning! We enjoyed walking through the temple and seeing the brilliant artwork and religious images but we also enjoyed visiting a tea house run by a nunnery where we tried milk tea.

Milk Tea

It is just tea made with mostly hot milk and, depending on who you ask, is not very good. It is neither sweet nor bitter, merely something that could be tried and not easily described afterwards. The teahouse was absolutely packed with locals taking a break from their day or old folks socializing. When the four of us walked in, it seemed as if we were a circus act and everyone was waiting for us to break into a theatrical routine. We smiled politely, took the only seats available and tried our milk tea.

A few "older" patrons on the tea house

From the crowded tea house we hit the streets again and had a brief walk through Barkor Street, the well known Tibetan market for monks’ attire, prayer wheels, and tourist souvenirs. For lunch we checked out a cave restaurant that was a narrow, dim single corridor. The ventilation was poor and thick spots of grease and smudges of cooking smoke spotted the ceilings and walls. It was here that we had our first taste of yak meat. We ordered yak momos, a traditional Tibetan dumpling usually filled with meat or vegetables. It was a strange taste, not necessarily unpleasant but rather not to either of our liking. Saben described it as tasting like “a game-y cow.”

Yak momos

After lunch we were scheduled to visit another monastery but the 4 of us decided collectively that we were not that crazy about seeing yet another monastery (we had seen some in China and they all start to look the same to us after a while). Our guide seemed genuinely hurt that we did not want to go but it was our trip and we dismissed him for the afternoon so we could each explore the city on our own.

We (the 2 of us) spent our afternoon wandering the market and strolling around the edges of the old city. It was a nice day and while there are a few nice parks to hang out in, we were happy just to take a walk and see what we could find. Before we knew it, it was dinner time and we found a little hole in the wall restaurant that apparently only sees locals. The staff were greatly amused at our presence and seemed very happy that we were there. We could not speak to each other, us not knowing Tibetan and they not knowing English, but we met in the middle with the handy (and big!) picture menu covering one whole wall of the tiny shop. The food was cheap, RMB7/plate, and very tasty. Feeling quite pleased with our day, we enjoyed the cool night air as we walked back to our rather awful hostel.

Very long, irritating train ride. Beautiful scenery, inconsiderate cabin mates (hard sleeper with 6 bunks; ours are bottoms this one and only time…ugh), looking forward to a real meal not consisting of almond crackers and oreos.

Saben on the train

Our cabin mates continue to eat some of the nastiest food ever conceived. The worst of all was the shrink wrapped Chicken legs (I think they were Chicken) that smell awful and were tossed OVER the trash can and onto Saben’s backpack. We didn’t find them until the next day. Awesome…

Out the train window

Snow on the way to Lhasa

September 7, 2009 – Day 256 – Lhasa, Tibet

Woohoo! We’re in Lhasa! Arrived at 4:30pm and were met by our guide to-be who is a bit intense but seems nice enough. Our hostel (the alledged least worst [can't even really call it best] hostel in Lhasa) turned out to be a dog-infested, shit-covered mess. At least it is cheap, $3/bed but there is not water for showers here. Hmm….

Spent a couple hours of remaining daylight checking out the city, smiling at the inquiring gazes from the locals who returned delighted smiles, and eating rice from a picture menu that turned out to be very delicious. Lhasa is a really great city and can’t wait to see more of it!

• What do you do with all the photos you take of us, is there a “photo a gringo” contest we are unaware of?

• What is wrong with your respiratory system that requires you to hock, spit, and nearly vomit every 20 seconds?

• What is up with the “coke nail” (one fingernail that is minimum 1 inch long) that nearly every man sports?

China was…. interesting. Or should I say the Chinese are interesting. The country itself is stunningly beautiful with an extremely diverse landscape. China also boasts some of the world’s most renowned historic sights and they are (for the most part) worth every penny. We swam in the Li river, climbed the Great Wall, scaled untold stairs on a Buddhist pilgrimage, roamed the Forbidden City, watched Giant Pandas eat their breakfast, and wandered through some of the most fantastic markets in the world.

While China (the country) is amazing, the Chinese….eh. We met some great people in China without a doubt but the average walk down the street does little to show this fact. The constant hocking/spitting/vomiting, uncountable girls (ages 3-11, definitely old enough to know better) waving and saying hello with their dress thrown over there heads taking a shit on the sidewalk baring all to the world, mass chaos and near stampeding any time you board public transportation (even if the train doesn’t leave for half an hour), and without a doubt some of the nastiest looking food I have ever laid my eyes on (deep fried squid arms and BBQ chicken feet come to mind).

We actually enjoyed China (and yes, even some of the Chinese) and are glad we were able to see quite a bit of the country. Will we be back? Maybe….but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

(Click here to check out the China Photo Gallery)

Favorite moments:

• The country’s natural beauty
• Picture menus
• Climbing all over the Great Wall
• The tobogan ride down from the Great Wall
• Fantastic city parks
• Climbing stairs for 11 hours up Emeishan
• Seeing pandas!

Not so great:

• Waking up to the endless sounds of hocking and spitting
• Always being hungry because Chinese food is full of MSG
• Expensive travel within China
• Chinese tours
• Bad charades
• Shrink-wrapped meat that smells like roadkill but is a favorite snack here
• People yelling all the time (damn those 4th tones)

Total Money Spent Per Person: $1249.92

Average Per Day Costs Per Person:

• Lodging: $ 5.15
• Food: $6.67
• Transportation: $13.08
• Misc: (Entrance fees, supplies, laundry, souvenirs etc.) $4.86

Total Average Per Day, Per Person: 29.76

Number of Days: 42

• Buy your ticket at the train station. Hostels and tour agencies always charge you a huge fee (sometimes 50-80 yuan) when it only costs them 2 yuan to take the public bus to and from the station.

• At the station there is a long row of ticket selling windows which are dedicated for particular destinations. There is always one window specifically for foreigners. The foreigner window tends to be the least used, sometimes at one far end, and can easily be identified by any other foreigners already in line!

• In practically every Chinese train station, every last sign will be completely in Chinese. In the event that you can not identify the Foreigners’ Ticket Window, simply go to the shortest line and attempt to buy your ticket there. Sometimes the teller will go ahead and sell it to you but most often they will tell you which number window you need to go to and send you away.

• There are three classes of Chinese trains: seats, hard sleepers and soft sleepers. For most backpackers, the hard sleeper is the most economical if not most comfortable. When buying your ticket you have the option of top, middle, or bottom bunk. Top is cheapest and offers a small amount of privacy (i.e people can not stare at you while you sleep) but you can not sit up in the top or middle bunks. The bottom bunk, most expensive, is thus designated the communal sitting area for everyone in your cabin, regardless of whether you are still sleeping there or not. Seats should be avoided for long or overnight journeys if at all possible. Soft sleepers have 4 bunks to a cabin but are only really worth the price about half the time. Check out seat61.com for more detailed information on classes.

• Always buy your train ticket 1-2 days before your journey. Otherwise the train will fill up and you will have to either take a sleeper bus or stay where you are for another day or two.

• Always double check your train ticket (departure date, destination, class) at the ticket counter. Once you walk away, the teller is no longer responsible for any errors they might have made. Once you receive your change and ticket, step to the side of the window and check it right there

• The staple food on trains in China is ramen soup. Every train is equipped with a hot water station at one end of every car. Be very careful as the water is near boiling when it shoots awkwardly from the spout.

• Stampeding aboard trains, planes, and buses seems to be a favorite Chinese pastime. Don’t be afraid to be tough and push your way through. While waiting to let everyone pass is a courteous practise at home, here it leaves you with footprints on your back, 15 people piling their stuff on your bed, and no place to put your backpack.

Quick breakdown of the Chinese train ticket

MONEY & COUNTERFEITS:

China has become very good at making fake goods and money. Always count your change before walking away from the business transaction. Check your large bills (everything over 20s) for authenticity.

• To check if a bill is counterfeit, hold it up to the light; you should see a watermark of Chairman Mao. The edges of the watermark should be a little fuzzy, not perfect. If the lines are perfect, you probably have a fake bill. You should also check the reflective strip on the front of the bill. Scratch at it; if it comes off, you probably have a fake.

• Be very aware of the bills you use to pay with (by using the above tip to check their authenticity). China is among the many countries where vendors will often swap your bill (usually 100s) with one of their fakes and then hand it back to you and say “Sorry, no change.” Keep an eye on the vendor’s hands and general behavior. If them seem a bit shifty eyed and keep glancing at you, they might just be trying to pass off a fake to your or shortchange you.

MARKETS:

• Despite what you might think, there are many people (a lot actually) in China that do not speak any or enough English. It is a good idea to take a small pocket calculator with you everywhere but especially to markets for better bargaining skills. Also helpful with bus fares, bakery shops, and so on.

• It can be very difficult to find an honest vendor because of how most people view tourists. It just comes with the trade. Despite how nice or friendly or sincere the vendor seems and despite their promises that the item you are interested in is in fact “real bone/jade/pearl/ivory/gold/etc,” it almost certainly is not. This does not mean that you should not buy the item; it simply means that you should pay the right price.

• Most of the time in markets, the first price a vendor tells you will be 3 or 4 times (sometimes even more) the price is actually should be. Know your exchange rate well and have a reasonable price in mind for the item you are looking at. Don’t be afraid to say your price even if it sounds ridiculously low compared to the ridiculously high price they started with. Everyone is just trying to make a living and you just need to be ready to bargain well.

ATTRACTIONS:

• For most attractions in China, you do not need a tour. Tell your hostel staff that you do not want to take a tour (no matter how hard they try to sell you one) and instead ask them which public bus/metro to take to get to the attraction. China’s public transport system is top notch and can get you practically everywhere if you just know which bus number to take. Of course don’t forget to ask which stop to get off at.

MISCELLANEOUS:

• China is not for those with a weak stomach. We were not on a single bus or train that didn’t have at least one person vomiting (including several city buses). It is not that the trains and buses are particularly rocky or shake around. Instead we unscientifically attributed all this vomiting business to two things: all that intense hocking and spitting (really, where does all that mucus come from?!) and the terrible food the Chinese seem to enjoy so much (starfish, chicken feet, organs, black eggs—you know, that sort of thing).

• Standard precautions apply in regards to personal safety and keeping track of your belongings. However, it is worth mentioning that Chinese pickpockets have created a clever way of extracting your wallet/valuables. They use a pair of long forceps, kind of like tweezers, to gently grab your wallet/other valuable and make away with it before you even realize what happened. Keep your hands on your stuff at all times.

Overall an unusually cruel and terrible travel day on a Chinese train. Got to Sim’s and finally we were able to collapse into the confines of a quiet room with movies and showers and a real meal that was not ramen noodles.

September 4, 2009 – Day 253 – Chengdu, China

Lots of errands to run today in preparation of our approaching Tibet trip! Gathering supplies and meeting our 2 travel mates to-be. Seem like cool guys. Laundry day!

September 5, 2009 – Day 254 – Chengdu, China

Saben is sick with Lin’s yak flu (sorry!) and took the day off. Laundry got rained on during the night and now not only smells weird but completely refuses to dry. This evening at 7pm we set out for the train station to embark on a 3 day journey to Lhasa, Tibet. It took 3 security checks, photos of our passports, and a smokey waiting room until we were ready to board our mobile home. Good riddance China, Tibet here we come!