Bonjour Europa!

October 13, 2009

On September 26, I said sayonara to Japan and hello to London. I was greeted by an obnoxious customs officer, who was reluctant to let me into the country and made me sit through 10 minutes of pedantic lecturing before he did. In London I met up with Minju, which was really great after being apart for 3 months.

We only had two days in London, but we made the most of it. We spent most of our time checking out the area around the Thames River, including the London Eye (seeing, but not riding), the Tate Modern, the Millennium Bridge and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I also saw St. Paul’s, my first European church. I always thought that seeing churches in Europe sounded kind of boring, but St. Paul’s blew me away. It is huge and cavernous and seems to go on forever. It also had some incredibly detailed and intricate artwork. I was impressed.

We got our shopping fix at the overcrowded Camden Market and we visited Westminster and admired Big Ben as the sun was setting. We also visited Wimbledon, which is a quieter residential area of London. The only downside to London was that I found the Londoners to be quite rude (this was made worse by the fact that I had just come from Japan, the most polite country on Earth). Besides the people, I really enjoyed the city and was struck by how old it felt. The architecture has a permanence to it that you can’t find in North America. I will also be checking out London just before I fly back to Canada, so more to come then!

From London, we traveled to Lyon, where Minju is studying this semester at the Jean Moulin University. Lyon was nice because it gave me a chance to finally settle into a place. I unpacked my backpack for the first time on the trip! In Lyon, I had to come back to reality for a bit and I spent some time working on my grad school applications. Aside from working at the library, I spent my time touring the city with Minju and soaking in the French culture. Fresh baguettes and croissants became a daily ritual and I ate crepes and many cheeses that I had never heard of before.

Lyon was interesting because it operates nearly exclusively en francais. I had a chance to put my minimal French into action and luckily the locals were accommodating enough to put up with my horrible French accent. At times (most times), it wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.

In Lyon, we spent a lot time hanging out near the beautiful Rhone river, which runs through the center of the city. We also spent time exploring Presq’ile (the downtown area) and Vieux Lyon (the old part of the city). Vieux Lyon is the France that I envisioned. It is full of small creperies, boulangeries and patisseries, and has many outdoor tables where people sip coffee, eat crepes, and, of course, smoke. The cobblestone streets and old buildings give the old town a very different atmosphere from the rest of the city. Another famous area of Lyon is Fourviere, where we checked part of a Latin mass at the Basilique de la Notre-Dame de Fourviere and admired two spectacular ancient Roman amphitheatres.

Minju and I also took a day trip to the tiny town of Perouges, which is a completely medieval city that was built in the 15th century. Perouges was really cool to see, and it is incredible that it so well preserved. The highlights were the town fortress and the lookout tower.

After soaking in Lyon, we headed to Paris for a 5 day whirlwind tour of the city. In Paris, I had my first ever Couchsurfing experience, and it was a great one! We stayed with a really nice guy named Mathieu who showed us the city, took us for beers (22 euro per pitcher…ouch!), took us to a small concert, and watched movies with us. It was a great experience having the opportunity to stay with a local and to experience some things that the typical tourist wouldn’t. For example, Mathieu took us to a great local outdoor market where we bought ingredients for dinner. While this might not sound too exciting, it was really cool to see the differences in how the French shop for groceries compared to Canada. In France, there is more focus on buying foods that are fresh and local, rather than buying things that are preserved and packaged. In short, it’s a much more environmental and healthy approach.

We made sure to visit the two iconic sites of Paris: the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Despite the crowds of tourists, it was still amazing to see these symbols that are so commonly connected to France. I was impressed by the sheer size of the Arc and its beautiful stone carvings. The Arc leads to the Champs D’Elysées, which is the 5th Avenue of Paris. It is a beautiful street to walk down, as it is lined with well kept trees and has sidewalks that are nearly as wide as the road itself. In general, Paris is a great walking city since the distances between sites in the downtown are quite short. It was great to see the Eiffel Tower. We climbed up to the second level and took in the view of downtown Paris. The tower itself looks quite industrial up close and is far from pretty, but from a distance it looks beautiful. It was originally intended to be a temporary structure, but it stayed up and has become the most well known symbol of Paris.

We also did our best to get a taste of the city’s incredible art collection. We visited The Louvre, The Rodin Museum, and the Centre Pompidou, which is a modern art museum. I really enjoyed the Rodin Museum. The museum had a cool layout: the sculptures were on display outside in a beautifully maintained garden. I especially enjoyed The Thinker and The Gates of Hell. The Gates of Hell blew me away with their incredible detail and with the haunting feeling that they gave off. The construction of the massive gates would have been a huge undertaking. While the Rodin Museum was small and self-contained the Louvre was the exact opposite. We spent nearly six hours exploring and probably saw less than half of the exhibits. At the Louvre, we saw the Mona Lisa, which was cool to see, but I didn’t find it as spectacular as everyone makes it out to be. I actually found the massive painting behind the Mona much more impressive. My favourite part of the museum was a collection of large 18th and 19th century French paintings. We saw Minju’s favourite painting, “Liberty Leading the People” by Delacroix (the Viva La Vida album cover). I really liked “The Coronation of Napolean.” The event was important because it was the first time that the Pope did not crown a King, and marked a clear separation between Church and State. The Louvre was good to see, but at times the size of it was overwhelming. Pompidou was a fun museum and I really enjoyed it. As with most modern art museums, I didn’t like about 60% of the stuff, was indifferent towards 20%, and really liked the other 20%.

I also visited the Pantheon, which houses the incredible Foucault Pendulum. The Pendulum hangs from the highest point in the Pantheon (220 feet) and was used by Foucault in 1851 to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. It is the one of the most famous large scale public science demonstrations, so naturally I was excited to see it and think about it. The pendulum bob rotates by 11 degrees per hour, and because of its size, the rotation is clearly visible. The Pantheon also has a crypt which houses some of France’s most important political and intellectual heroes.

Some other highlights of Paris include visiting Notre Dame Cathedral, feeding baguette to the birds outside the Louvre, seeing the original Statue of Liberty at the Jardin du Luxembourg, walking along the Seine River, browsing Shakespeare and Company (possibly the best bookstore in the world) and visiting Montmatre and Sacre-Coeur. I really enjoyed our time in Paris. It is a beautiful city throughout and it is hard to find a part that you will not enjoy.

Special thanks to Mathieu for being such a great host!

-M

Volcanic Ambition

September 26, 2009

Dad and I spent the past two weeks traveling through Japan. Our time in Japan was spectacular and we were wowed by the people, the culture, and the natural beauty. The first thing that struck me about Japan was how civilized and dependable it seemed compared to everywhere else that I have traveled. I really appreciated the simple things: like being able to drink the tap water and not having trains delayed due to rock slides. The second thing was the people, who are incredibly nice, friendly, and polite to a fault. The Japanese were extremely helpful to us, and made our travels very enjoyable.

Our trip started in Hiroshima, where we visited the Peace Memorial Atomic Bomb museum. The museum is really well done. It has portions that focus on the historical background to the Hiroshima bombing, as well as parts that provide personal perspectives to the bombing. The effects of the bomb were horrific, and nearly half of Hiroshima’s population perished (140,000 of the 300,000). I liked the fact that the museum was not excessively pro-Japan, and took the opportunity to point out some of Japan’s mistakes made in WWII, particularly the invasion of China. Seeing the pictures of the barren wasteland left behind by the bomb was especially moving. The thought that one country would ever want to inflict this kind of damage on another country is disgusting. Hiroshima has tried to turn its negative history into a positive and has become one of the world’s strongest advocates for the banning of nuclear weapons. Below is a picture of the A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings that was left standing after the bombing. The city chose to leave it in this form to serve as a reminder of their past.



In Hiroshima, we also had the chance to take in a Japanese Pro Baseball game, which was quite a cultural experience. The Japanese love their baseball! We saw the Hiroshima Carp play the Tokyo Giants. Japanese baseball fans are crazy! They have a ton of organized cheers and they spend the entire game shouting them in unison. Many of the fans didn’t sit down for the entire game. For each batter, they have a certain cheer, as well as a cheer they do for every run scored. So much for the Japanese being quiet reserved people: these fans were rowdy! It was fun sitting in the heat of it all and soaking in the atmosphere.

After Hiroshima, we took the Shinkansen (the bullet train that travels at 270 km/hr) to Kyoto. If Tokyo is the economic and political capital of Japan, Kyoto is certainly the cultural capital. Dad and I spent two days exploring Kyoto by bike and toured many of Kyoto’s temples, shrines, and parks. We also biked along the Takanogowa River and visited Nijo castle, which used to be the home of the shogun of Japan. During our bike tour, I was amazed by the presence of baseball in Japan. We saw numerous little league and pick-up games going on. We even played for a bit with a group of university students. Below is a picture of our Kyoto sandlot team. Kyoto had a calm, serene feel, and seems like a very livable city.



After Kyoto, we left the rush of the city behind and visited the town of Hida-Takayama. Takayama was a nice small town, and besides a small touristy section, felt like a very authentic Japanese experience. In Takayama we had the coolest accommodations of our Japan trip: we slept in a Buddhist temple! The rooms were minimal—little more than two tatami mats on the floor—but were very nice. The temple also had a completely dark underground tunnel, in which you could go on a “spiritual quest” to find a key and make a wish. After leaving the tunnel, there was a helpful sign that advised us that the more money we donated to Buddha, the more likely our wish would come true! Takayama is surrounded by beautiful rolling mountains that are shrouded in tall, thin pine trees. In the mornings, the trees were engulfed in a white mist. We also visited a Hida Village, which displayed the old thatch-roofed houses that the Hida people live in.

From Takayama, we took the train to Mount Fuji, where we undertook the physical test of climbing Japan’s tallest mountain. Climbing Fuji was an experience that Dad likened to running a marathon: well you’re doing it, it’s painful, but at the end it feels great to have finished. We spent a night at the Fuji 5th station to rest up for the climb and get acclimatized. Our accommodations, the Sato Lodge, were really cool. Mr. Sato (Sato-san, as the Japanese say) owns a small cabin on the side of Fuji, and was a really kind host. Our room was a toasty 11 degrees, so we spent most of the evening hanging out by Mr. Sato’s wood stove, the only source of heat in the cabin. Below the 5th station, the mountain is beautiful and thick with pine trees. Above the 5th, it is a very different story. The mountain is extremely barren, and besides some low shrubs, there is no vegetation. It is covered with fine black volcanic rock and looks like the moon.

The next morning, we woke up at 4:15 and started our climb at 4:45. We started while it was still dark outside and the temperature was a fairly comfortable 5 degrees. At times, the climb was fun, as we scrambled up rocks, but on the whole it was an absolute slog. The path is covered in all of this loose volcanic gravel and it is tough to find solid footing. Also, the path looks the same for a lot of the way, making the climbing pretty monotonous. After climbing about 1500 vertical meters, we reached Fuji’s summit. The feeling of finally reaching the top was incredible! At that moment, we were at the highest point in Japan: 3776m. At the summit you can get a really good look into the volcano’s crater. Fuji hasn’t erupted in about 300 years, and thankfully it remained inactive on that day as well! The temperature at the top was probably just below zero, and we were able to soak in the summit view without being too cold.

Because of all the gravel, the climb down was tricky and, as much as walking, we slid down the side of Fuji. It was quite a relief to finally reach the bottom. At the 5th station, we met up with Scott Morita, a friend of Dad’s. With Scott, we spent the night at Hakone, a famous vacation spot near Tokyo. In Hakone, Scott introduced us to a Japanese tradition: the onsen bath. Onsen is a natural mineral hot spring bath, and is one of the most treasured parts of Japanese culture. For us, it was the perfect therapy for our exhausted legs.

After our Hakone visit, we went to Tokyo, where we spent our first two nights at Scott’s place. Staying at Scott’s was a great experience because it gave us a taste of Japanese living and showed us a quiter, less-touristy, side of Tokyo. There was also the additional perk of indulging in Mrs. Morita’s incredible Japanese cooking. The rest of our time in Tokyo was spent with Dad’s friend Derek, and the two balls of energy known as Reese and Spencer.

I really enjoyed Tokyo and its permanent buzz. The size of the city is mind-blowing, and it has at least five different areas that could legitimately lay claim to being the “downtown.” Sometimes simply walking down the street ends up being a cultural experience, as Scott, Dad, and I found out as we waded through the streets of Harajuku.

One of the highlights of Tokyo was watching a sumo tournament with Derek and the kids. I expected Sumo wrestling to be more of a fad than anything, but I loved the experience. The Sumo matches take place in a big 10,000 seat arena, which was nearly sold out. The actual sumo match is quite quick—they rarely last more than ten seconds. There is an incredible amount of tradition and ceremony involved in Sumo fighting. Before the grand champions start fighting, they make a special entrance to the ring and do a cheer. This is followed by another special entrance by the yokozunas, the best fighters in each division. Before each match, the sumos go through an elaborate routine where they throw salt in the ring, and have multiple stare-offs with their opponent. The preamble creates quite a buildup for each fight. There is a lot more skill involved than I expected and we saw matches won using many different moves. The matches were really exciting and before I knew it, we had been there for 3 hours and watched over 25 matches. I would go again in a heartbeat.



The life of a sumo is an interesting one. They wake up at 5am and train hard doing agility, strength and toughness drills until about 830am. At this point, they eat a huge “special sumo meal” and then immediately go to sleep, for maximum weight gain. That can’t be healthy. For the rest of the day, they do some more light training and then usually go out at night, where they are treated as celebrities. The sumos are a complete contrast to the rest of the Japanese, who are the slimmest and healthiest people that I have ever seen.

Another highlight of Tokyo was the Tsukiji fish market, the world’s largest seafood market. Every morning at 5:30am there is an auction for the day’s catch of fresh and frozen tuna. Most of the frozen tuna are caught in Europe, immediately frozen with liquid nitrogen and then shipped to Japan. The buyers spend the half an hour before the auction assessing the fish. To see them in action is fascinating, as they are able to judge a tuna’s quality by looking at a small piece of flesh that is exposed on the tail of the fish. At 5:30 the madness of the auction began, with the auctioneer selling the tuna at breakneck speed. For me, it was completely incomprehensible but was still fun to watch. He must have sold 50 individual tuna in less than 5 minutes. After the auction, we walked around the market gawking at all the exotic types of seafood being sold. The volume of seafood that the market turns over on a daily basis is unbelievable. Everything in the market is fresh, and, presumably, most of it gets sold before noon each day.


Some other highlights of Tokyo included seeing Shibuya, Tokyo’s busiest intersection, walking through beautiful Ueno Park, playing with all the latest gadgets at the Sony Building, satisfying my inner geek at the Museum of Science and Nature, jogging through the Imperial Palace, touring the Fuji TV building and learning about Tokyo’s history at the Edo-Tokyo museum. My favourite part of Tokyo was the Yanaka district. Yanaka, along with the Imperial Palace, were the only parts of Tokyo that were not destroyed by the bombs of WWII. Because of this, Yanaka feels completely different from any other part of Tokyo. It has small, narrow streets lined with shops, temples and houses. It was interesting simply observing Yanaka’s locals engaging in their regular day-to-day activities.

Japan was my last stop in Asia, and now I will head to Europe to see what France, Spain, Poland, Belarus, and Switzerland have to offer! I’m sad to say goodbye to Asia.

I would like to say thank you to Scott and Derek for all of their hospitality, the great dinners, and the great times.

-M

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

September 12, 2009

For the second half of my China stay I visited the cities of Xi’an and Beijing. While Yunnan was all about experiencing natural beauty, these cities were about appreciating culture and the power of man.

Xi’an is China’s tourist mecca and is one of the country’s ancient cities. I was surprised to find that today’s Xi’an is a bustling, industrial city of 3.1 million with plenty of commercial influence. The city is a strange juxtaposition of some of China’s most treasured historical sights and an upscale westernized downtown area.

Xi’an is especially famous for the Terra Cotta Warriors, a massive army of life-sized soldiers who were built 2200 years ago by Emperor Qin. Apparently, the Emperor had some ego issues—he assigned 720,000 men to the forty year task of constructing him the largest tomb ever built. He had the Terra Cotta Army built to protect him, and he believed that the army would allow him to continue his rule in the afterlife. The army consisted of 6000 soldiers, archers, cavalrymen and generals. Each soldier is incredibly detailed: complete with his own unique facial expression, hairstyle and posture. The army was assembled in three underground pits and, over time, these pits were invaded and most of the army was destroyed. For almost 2200 years the army was forgotten, until some local farmers uncovered its ruins when drilling a well in 1975. The three pits were excavated and about 2000 of the soldiers were reassembled. Today, the Terra Cotta Army stands in formation, on display for tourists to enjoy.

I found the warriors very impressive; especially given their age and the details of their discovery. The only unfortunate thing was that you couldn’t get very close to the warriors to appreciate the intricate detail with which they were created.

In Xi’an I also visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and took a nice jog around the 14km of city walls that surround the “old” part of the city. From Xi’an, I embarked on my second hard-seat train experience—an overnight train to Beijing. Just like last time, the experience was unforgettable. I met a really nice family who was traveling from Tibet to Beijing, a 48 hour journey. They didn’t speak much English, but we still managed to talk for a few hours. They helped me with my Chinese pronunciation and taught me how to count to 999 in Chinese. The counting skills came in very handy, as it instantly increased my bartering proficiency. The family also insisted that I eat some of their chicken feet and I really had no choice but to oblige. Later, I met a student from Beijing and we talked the rest of the way to Beijing. The only downside was getting less than an hour of sleep!

Once I arrived in Beijing, I met with Haiguang, a good friend of my Dad’s. I had a great time in Beijing. The city is the political and cultural center of China and is rich with history. My first stop in Beijing was the Forbidden City, the former home of China’s royal family. The Forbidden City is a spectacular place and has an incredible number of grandiose, finely detailed buildings. The sheer size of the city is the most impressive part.

In Beijing, I also visited Olympic Park, where I toured the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest. It was really cool to see them in person. I was contemplating doing a victory lap around the track but decided it would be better to leave that to Usain Bolt. That day, I also toured the Temple of Heaven and Tian’amen Square. The Temple of Heaven was nice, but not spectacular. It was interesting being at Tian’amen and seeing the big portrait of Mao Zedong and thinking about the events that happened there in 1989. Later that evening, my Dad arrived in Beijing! He had a few days of business at first and then we had a day to visit the city together. Dad’s arrival was synonymous with copious amounts of free food and beer: a backpacker’s dream!

I spent another one of my days visiting the Summer Palace, which was the summer vacation spot for the royal family. The Summer Palace is a beautiful place. It is set in a gorgeous park filled with willow trees, a large lake and many nice bridges. In my opinion, it is even nicer than the Forbidden City. Also, because it is so large, you can find room to breathe at the Summer Palace, unlike the Forbidden City.

The highlight of my Beijing visit came on Dad’s day off when we took a trip to the Great Wall. We chose to visit Jinshanling, a more remote and less traveled portion of the wall. It is about a 3 hour drive from Beijing, but the extra drive was well worth it. On the wall we decided to travel a different route than most tourists. We managed to find a section that was completely unrestored and where we were the only hikers. It was incredible seeing the wall in such a pure and untouched form. The wall was overgrown with grass and there was only a thin beaten path for us to walk along. At times the hiking got pretty treacherous and we started to consider turning around. Luckily, we decided to keep going. Eventually we reached a point where we could not walk any further because it was a military restricted zone. We climbed up the guard tower and sat on the roof enjoying the view. It was an amazing feeling being alone with the wall. As far as the eye can see, the wall snakes through the green mountains. It is simultaneously a feat of engineering, a work of art and an architectural masterpiece.

After our personal path ended, we went back and hiked down the more traveled path, which was also incredibly beautiful, but lacked the unpredictability of the other section. We hiked for a few more hours, taking in the spectacular scenery. I find it absolutely amazing that the Chinese were able to build such a wall 400 years ago. They built the wall without the use of any machines, and they built it so well that it has withstood 400 years of weathering. The construction would have required them to transport stone and building materials up the side of the mountain and then assemble the wall in some of the most treacherous conditions imaginable. One slip and a man could easily fall to his death. I remember that this also amazed me the first time I saw the Great Wall.

I love Beijing! Despite the fact that it has become more westernized in recent years, it is an incredible city to visit and should be added to your “must-see” list. Next, Dad and I fly to Hiroshima, for two weeks of sushi, baseball and temples in Japan.

The Wild, Wild West

September 5, 2009

I entered the People’s Republic on August 24th and was immediately greeted by a whole new level of culture shock. China is a truly foreign country. I love it here.

I arrived in Guangzhou by train and had planned to immediately catch a train to Kunming, which is the largest city in the Yunnan province. In Guangzhou I was greeted by a train station where written English was non-existent and spoken English was rare at best. After quite an interesting exchange, I found that the train I had hoped to take was fully booked and that I would have to catch a later one. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, as it gave me a day to explore Guangzhou. As I was walking out of the train station, I met a girl named Vivian who spoke excellent English and offered to tour me around the city for the day. We had a lot of fun checking out some of Guangzhou’s best, such as the Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall and the beautiful Yuexiu Park. At dinner, I had an unfortunate “cultural” experience. I ordered a dish off the menu, which I thought was noodles, and Vivian giggled but didn’t say anything. When it came out Vivian eagerly explained that the dish I had chosen was not noodles, but pig intestine! To be polite, I ate the dish and it turned out to be much tastier than it sounded. I resolved to be more careful with my photo-based ordering in the future.

From Guangzhou, I boarded the 26 hour train to Kunming. To save some money, I decided to travel in hard seat, which is the cheapest class available. It seems strange to call 26 hours in a train seat a “great experience”, but I can describe the train ride in no other way. Basically, as a foreigner in hard seat, I spent 26 hours as a celebrity, as all the locals were fascinated to learn about where I came from and what I was doing in China. Naturally, this is difficult without English. Fortunately, I met a man who spoke fairly good English. We talked for a long time and he also acted as “the interpreter” so I could converse with the other people on the train. It was fascinating learning about the local people’s jobs, education, aspirations, and way of life. I had a chance to tell them a lot about life in Canada, and they found the comparison between the two countries very interesting. We also shared a lot of laughs and before I knew it we had arrived in Kunming. I need to thank my cousin Trevor for recommending the hard seat experience. I think it will be one of my best memories of my trip in China.

In Kunming, I met up with the one and only Jeffrey Wong! On our first day we rented some shotty bikes (the pedals kept falling off) and ventured out of town and up a mountain to visit the Bamboo Temple. The temple is an active monastery, and was quite nice, but the definitive highlight of the day was the breakneck speed bike ride back down the mountain. That night, we took a “sleeper” bus to Lijiang. Unfortunately, for anybody taller than 5’4”, sleeping is more of a hope than a reality.

Lijiang is a really nice old-style town with narrow and winding cobblestone streets that are lined with shops selling local crafts, scarves and food. Also, Lijiang marked the first time I had encountered cool air since leaving Canada, which was a refreshing change. We explored the Mu family mansion, which is Lijiang’s version of the Forbidden City. We also went to the Black Dragon Pool Park, where we climbed Elephant Hill and enjoyed a spectacular view of Lijiang and the surrounding mountainous area. From Lijiang we took a trip to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which, without a doubt, was my favourite part of Yunnan.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is the world’s (disputably) deepest and narrowest gorge. It was formed from the erosion of the Yangtze River, as it snaked through the mountains of Northern Yunnan. Jeff and I spent two days hiking along the gorge and the experience was absolutely unforgettable. The hiking trail at TLG is right along the mountainside, meaning that for the entire hike we had spectacular views looking down into the gorge and at the surrounding mountains. The hiking is pretty strenuous, but your heart also gets a workout from the fact that at any given point you are only a few feet from a 500 meter fall into the gorge. The mountains we stunning and were easily the largest that I have ever seen. We spent a night at a guesthouse along the trail, which had a great view of the mountains. In the picture below, we are eating dinner with a group of friends we made and enjoying the surreal view. We also had this view from our room!

On the second day, we hiked down into the gorge, and went out to a rock in the middle of the river. The rock is called Tiger Leaping Stone, and it is where the gorge gets its name. As legend has it, a tiger once leapt across the gorge from this stone. It’s a nice story, but I must say that the physics just isn’t there. Standing on that stone was an incredible feeling. The river was roaring so loudly that you had to shout to be heard and all around us were giant cliff faces, one of which had a waterfall running down it. I really got an appreciation for how miniscule man is in comparison to nature.

After a great two days of trekking, we went to visit the town of Shangri-la. Shangri-la, at an elevation of 3280m, was the highest altitude that I had ever experienced. I was slightly disappointed when I did not have any physical difficulties with the altitude. Jeff and I spent a day biking around the town and the surrounding area. Once you get North of the town, the biking gets quite interesting, as you are just as likely to encounter a pig, chicken or cow on the road as a car. Shangri-la was a really nice, laid back town.

Our final stop in Yunnan was the city of Dali. Like Lijiang, Dali is an ancient Chinese city and is a hotspot for tourists. We biked through some of the agricultural areas surrounding the city, which was really interesting. Jeff and I also visited the Erhai Hu Lake, where I ended up taking an impromptu swim with some local kids.

On our next day in Dali, we went up the Zhonghe Mountain and walked the 11km path along the mountaintop. To make our hike more interesting we decided to walk along the rocks in the stream, rather than along the path beside. After we each took a sobering spill into the stream, we decided to put our pride away and walk the rest of the day on the path. At least we provided entertainment for some Chinese tourists!

After Dali, we headed back to Kunming, where Jeff headed back to Hong Kong and I will carry on to Xi’an. Western China was full of adventures and I can only hope that the rest of China is this exciting!

-M

A Western Interlude

August 25, 2009

Sorry about the recent blog hiatus. Any complaints can be directed towards the Chinese government and their website blocking policies.

Kevin and I arrived in Hong Kong on August 20th and were immediately greeted with many of the comforts of home. Nearly everyone in Hong Kong speaks English and many of the shops and the restaurants are the same chains as back home. This would have been annoying six weeks ago, but by this point it was a welcome change. The only unfortunate part was that the prices also went from being Asian to being Western! The “Seven-Eleven Bar” proved to be the only establishment worthy of our budget.

I was really impressed with Hong Kong. The city has an incredible energy and has a skyline that rivals Manhattan’s. Walking through the downtown you are greeted by huge groups of people and large and modern buildings. Everything in Hong Kong is vertical. This is the Hong Kong that I expected. What I was pleasantly surprised by was the amount of undeveloped park space on Hong Kong Island. It is a mixing of two jungles: the natural and the concrete varieties.



In HK, we met up with our friend Eamon, who is currently modeling in the city. Eamon gave me a taste of cramped Hong Kong living, as I stayed in his apartment and slept on his loveseat for three nights, after Kevin left. Eamon and his friend Jovie gave Kevin a one day city tour, which included a hot, sweaty hike up to The Peak, a mountain in the middle of Hong Kong Island. From The Peak, we had a great view of the skyline, the harbor and Hong Kong’s other islands. The view was spectacular. The dichotomy of urbanized city next to rolling mountains and ocean was especially impressive. The only downside to the peak was the huge shopping mall below it. In Hong Kong it is difficult to escape consumerism.



After seeing Kevin off from the airport, I moved into the Eamon chateu. The next day, Eamon, Jovie and I spent a fun day at Big Wave Beach, which is a nice beach on the east side of Hong Kong Island. After the beach, I decided to jog up to the peak, which proved to be quite the test. The next day, we also roamed around Hong Kong’s wild shopping district and I quickly realized that it does not mesh well with a backpacker’s budget.

Here is Eamon showing Bruce Lee his best stuff. I hear Gucci calling!

On my last night in HK, Jeff arrived from Toronto and I was treated to a very nice dinner by the Wong family. Jeff and I will be spending the next 11 days together traveling through Yunnan, China. We are both very excited for what China may bring!

-Mitch

A Joy, In Every Possibility

August 17, 2009

Greetings from Hanoi! We have just finished a great two week tour through Vietnam. I love this country! From stunning landscapes, to bustling cities, to laid-back towns, Vietnam has it all.

We started our trip in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), the former capital and one of the busiest cities that I have ever experienced. Saigon has a permanent buzz: the people and streets are full of energy and the roads are absolutely packed with motorbikes at all times of the day. In Saigon, crossing the street is an art form; mastered by the locals and attempted by the tourists. If you wanted to wait for a clear break in traffic, you would be waiting for minutes, so the locals have adopted a simple road-crossing philosophy: just walk. And it works. The bike drivers are adept at avoiding you and each other and, somewhat miraculously, the traffic moves smoothly and safely. In Saigon there are 4 million registered motorbikes for the population of 5.3 million. We quickly became very accustomed to dealing with the seas of motorbikes.

In Saigon, we visited the Reunification Palace, where the Vietnam War officially ended in 1975. We also visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, which are an example of the intricate underground tunnel system used by the Viet Cong soldiers during the war. The tunnels were dug out entirely by hand and had multiple levels at different depths. They are a feat of engineering. A typical tunnel was about 1 meter in diameter and was dark, hot and very humid. We had a chance to crawl through one of the tunnels (which has been enlarged for oversized westerners). It was pretty tough work.

After Saigon, we headed up the coast to Nha Trang, the beach city of Vietnam. We spent our entire first day enjoying the beach and promptly turned into lobsters! For the rest of the stay we were a little smarter about staying out of the sun. The beach was a really fun time. There was a minimal number of tourists and it was absolutely packed with locals, many of whom we had a chance to chat with. The Vietnamese are very kind and accommodating people, and they were very interested in learning as much as possible about us. We usually talked until we exhausted their supply of English words (i.e. for about a minute or 2)! Nha Trang also has a very nice coral reef and we spent a day snorkeling at Mun island, which was a lot of fun. Another highlight of our stay was a trip to the local hot springs, which included a mud bath “spa” treatment. We went to the spa with our friend Steph from Calgary, who we met in Nha Trang. To get the full experience, we covered ourselves from head to toe! After getting out of the bath, you sit in the sun for about 10 minutes and let the mud harden before washing it off. It leaves your skin feeling really soft. I wish I could do it every day!

From Nha Trang, we continued up the coast to the great little town of Hoi An. This was my favourite place in Vietnam because of its laid back atmosphere and slow pace. Oh, and the fact that they serve beer for 3,500 dong (about 15 cents) certainly doesn’t hurt! Hoi An had an incredibly beautiful beach, which was really quiet and felt like our own little piece of paradise. We spent a full day swimming in the incredibly warm ocean water and relaxing on the beach. We also rented motorbikes one day and drove around the streets with the locals. The motorbikes were so much fun! We took a short road trip to Danang and took in the beautiful ocean and mountain views along the way. I can see why everyone here has a motorbike: they are addictive. Hoi An is famous for its 400 made-to-measure tailor shops. While initially hesitant to buy anything, after seeing the prices and the quality, we couldn’t resist and each of us had a suit made. We won’t have a chance to wear them on this trip, but we’ll both be looking forward to our next chance to suit up at home. Our Hoi An trip also saw us shave off our month-old “beards”, which was liberating to say the least!

After Hoi An, we made a short stop in Hue, Vietnam’s ancient capital. Hue is home to the Imperial City, where the emperor and his family lived. It was really beautiful and had an interesting mix of pristine temples and temples which are only half standing because of the war. Hue was hit hard in the Vietnam war and a lot of the Imperial City was destroyed. Some have been refurbished and other parts have been left in their original state. We also experienced a monsoon-quality rainstorm and got extremely soaked before our bus ride to Hanoi.

Our last stop in Vietnam was Hanoi. I really enjoyed Hanoi. Compared to Saigon, it feels more like a traditional Asian city and has managed to partially resist the Western influence which has infiltrated Saigon. The city is quite beautiful, with a lot of temples and some nice lakes and rivers throughout the downtown. In Hanoi, we visited the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and the Museum of Ethnology, but my favourite part of the visit was just walking around the streets and taking in the city. Hanoi is more about the vibe than the sights.

We also took a trip to visit Ha Long Bay, which is about 3 hours outside Hanoi. Ha Long Bay was beautiful! The bay is surrounded by limestone rock faces covered in green foliage and has about 500 rocky islands scattered throughout. We took a two-day cruise through the bay and spent the night on the boat. Close to dusk on our first day we had a chance to kayak around the bay, which was an awesome experience. We got to explore some of the islands up close and appreciate their incredible size and beauty.

Next up for us is a stop in Hong Kong. Kevin will only be in Hong Kong for a day before he heads back to Canada. It’s hard to believe that six weeks have passed already! We have had an incredible trip and I’m going to miss sharing the adventure with him. I will spend about 5 days in Hong Kong before heading into the Yunnan province of China. I have heard that the blogspot site is blocked in China, so there may not be any new posts coming for a little while.

-Mitch

Walking With the Elephants

August 5, 2009

Sawatdee krap! Kevin and I spent the past week exploring the beauty that is Northern Thailand. I really enjoyed our stay here, although for different reasons than Cambodia and Malaysia. Thailand does not have the same charm as these other countries, likely because its people are extremely accustomed to tourists. The people are more abrasive in general, and seemed more interested in making money off us than getting to know us. I did not feel the same personal connection to the locals as I have on the rest of this trip. Also, due to the heavy tourism, the probability of finding a hidden gem like Tawau Hills Park in Thailand is essentially zero. That being said, Thailand is full of natural beauty and we had a number of unforgettable experiences discovering it.

We began our trip in Chiang Rai, a city close to the northern tip of Thailand that has a nice small-town feel. Our main reason for venturing to Chiang Rai was to do one of Thailand’s famous hill tribe treks. Most of these treks happen out of Chiang Mai, but we chose Chiang Rai because the group size is generally smaller and the jungle is more authentic. We were not disappointed.



We did our trek with two guys from Holland and a great, and sometimes a little crazy, guide named Simon. Thailand’s mountains are filled with hill tribes that have lived off the land, and largely technology-free, for hundreds of years. Simon has lived his whole life as part of a hill tribe and has an incredible understanding of the land in his area. The trekking was quite challenging and had many river crossings, tough climbs and treacherous stretches along the hillside. The scenery was beautiful and varied. We were surrounded by green mountains, rice and corn fields, rivers, waterfalls, and, of course, spent a lot of time going through thick jungle. Simon would include an occasional “adventure” for us, where we would go into the jungle and essentially blaze our own trail, with the help of his knife (read favourite toy).



We spent the night at Simon’s house where he and his wife cooked us a delicious meal. It was interesting hearing his perspective on Thailand’s social issues and hearing his stories about the hill tribe way of life. It rained hard overnight, which made for quite the trekking experience on the second day. We all took some spills and without our walking sticks it would have been even uglier. The highlight of day two was a huge waterfall that we had a chance to swim at. In the picture here, Kevin and I are enjoying what we call the “waterfall massage.”



As part of our trek, we had the opportunity to visit a number of hill tribes. I was excited for this part of the tour but it was a bit disappointing. The tribes seemed pretty inactive, and there seemed to be little happening in terms of agriculture or other jobs. Also, I was shocked to learn that all of the tribes around Chiang Rai have been recently been given solar panels by the government and now have electricity in their huts. It is clear that their way of life is changing, maybe not for the better. It seems contradictory, but tourist’s fascination in the hill tribe way of life is the very thing that is eroding this way of life.

During our stay in Chiang Rai we discovered two dishes which would prove to be staples for the rest our trip: Thai Green Curry and Pad Thai. It also didn’t hurt that we found a place selling Pad Thai for 30 baht! ($1)

After finishing our trek, we took the bus to Chiang Mai. We started with a much needed day of recovery, reading and relaxation. Our next day picked up in a big way, with a whitewater rafting trip on the Mae Wang River and its grade 4 rapids. For both of us, it was our first time trying whitewater rafting. The rapids were pretty intense, but I was hoping they were going to be a little crazier. At one point the raft did almost tip, and Chubey and two Belgians got tossed overboard. The ride itself was very nice, as the river was beautiful and was surrounded by great jungle. We also had a chance to swim in the rapids, which was a lot of fun. For obvious reasons, there are no photos from this day!

The next day was the best part of our Chiang Mai trip. We went to visit the Elephant Nature Park, which is an elephant sanctuary that is geared towards caring for, rather than riding, the elephants. This idea really appealed to us, as we had been turned off by the fact that nearly every trek has an elephant riding component, where elephants are marched around in circles all day and live in extremely cramped quarters. The park treats elephants properly. We had an incredible experience there!

From the moment we drove up to the park, I was in awe at the size and grace of the elephants. I had a permanent smile on my face the entire day. It is a place that exudes happiness. We started our day by visiting the park’s cutest members: a 4 week, 3 month, and 1 year old trio of newborn elephants. The 4 week old baby already weighs 200kg! I’m certain that this is one of the only 200 kilogram mammals on earth that could ever be described as “cute.” The sheer size of the adults is breathtaking. This was on full display during a touchy moment where the 1 year old, “wild boy”, escaped from his pen. How did he get back into the pen? Simple: his mom just walked over and, with one step, broke a hole in the fence so that wild boy could walk back in.

Next, we had two chances to feed the elephants. Feeding consists of holding out pieces of fruit that the elephants grab with their trunks and shovel into their mouths. They literally eat at the pace you feed them. Elephants have incredible appetites: they can spend up to 18 hours per day eating and typically consume between 350 and 500kg of food daily. It was hilarious seeing the ridiculous eating pace. My elephant ate an entire bucket (probably 50 lbs.) of fruit in 5 minutes.

Later on, we had a chance to spend some personal time with the elephants without any sort of barrier between us and them. We went into the river and helped cool them off by splashing them with buckets of water. They loved the attention and it was really cool to see them playing with one another in the water. We also went to the field and had the chance to get up really close to some of the elephants. Their favourite thing is when you rub them behind their ears.




In the field we had a chance to meet Lek, the founder of the park. Lek is an incredible woman and she has an incredible rapport with the elephants. She started the park as a place to help injured, sick and mistreated elephants. Unfortunately, the mistreatment of elephants is a very serious problem in Thailand. Most of the elephants at the park have been rescued from entrepreneurial schemes such as using elephants on city streets for begging, for circus acts and to give tourists rides all day long. The owners often torture the elephants in order to make them as obedient as possible. In fact, there is a horrific ritual for domesticating elephants in Thailand called breaking the elephant. This process consists of chaining up the elephant, putting it in a wood cage and then stabbing it with sharp sticks until it literally gives up its fight. The worst part is that there are no laws against using domesticated elephants as a business venture in Thailand. The trainers are allowed to get away with these malicious acts. Nearly all of Lek’s elephants come from this industry. There is a large push for a change in the laws regarding elephant treatment, but it appears that changes are still far away. The irony in all of this is that the elephant is a revered and worshipped religious symbol in Thailand. Besides caring daily for the elephants, a large part of Lek’s works goes towards raising social awareness about these injustices. After seeing the elephants thriving in their natural setting, it is very sad to think that half of Thailand’s elephants are domesticated.


Seeing these incredible animals up close is something that I will never forget.

For the next leg of our trip, we are flying to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and will head up the coast by bus towards Hanoi, making a number of stops along the way.

-MB