Mainland

We are in the train it is eight in the morning.
The station is clean.
The train is clean.
The toilets in the train are clean, they have an electronic eye to flush so you don't have to touch with your hands.
There is toilet paper.
The handle bars are gold color and shiny.
The train left on time and arrived early.
We got mineral water free of charge.
It is packed with people but it is quiet.
All this quite shocking after India.
Djudju went to sit next to a Chinese girl a year older and is playing games with her on her moms iPhone. Matt is reading up on Japan.
A long trip ahead of us train, two planes, and a taxi.
Our first transfer from the train station went smoothly and although we apprehended so far organization has been impeccable.
Before I go on I must be clear about the fact that basically we contracted a company in the UK to organize our trip on China and asked a friend (Lolo), to review it, we haven't really looked in to the details of it.
As a result we are landing at Shangri La, it is freeeeeeezing, and after taking a few steps down and breathing heavily I checked my altimeter and noticed we were at three thousands four hundred something meters.
We weren't prepared for that at all, anyway we got picked up at the airport by a cow boy Chinese and dropped of at a serene looking hotel with excellent accommodation if not that the rooms were freezing despite the electrical heaters.
We slept in adult/children pair.
The next day we went to explore breakfast. A first taste at the salty manto's revealed nothing promising so we went really local into the habits of people here and got some dim sum and noodle soups at a local little shack.
The kids soon realized, so did we, that not spicy here has a distinctly different meaning then what we are used to.
We had to find Djudj something else. Tiny mandarins and some weird looking bread did the job.
Bus three took us to a temple overlooking the valley and a first encounter with the local Tibetan architecture and clothing.
What a change with India, first of all it is cold, it is clean, but people are, though very friendly, not as welcoming.
Having said that our blond curly one has a stunning effect on the Chinese population. Everyone grabs him to take a picture and when they see Matt's green eyes the effect isn't much different.
The next morning we got dropped of at the local bus station for a much dreaded seven hour bus ride to Dali.
Four white people in the whole bus, 'we'.
The bus ride was quite smooth if you think away the narrow roads, the guy behind me spitting sunflower seed peals on the floor then half way through the ride jumping to the window to puke 'em out. And the Karaoke the whole bus was singing along at.
Ordering food at noon break was quite an experience. No one speaks English not even yes or no so it was a matter at pointing and theatrically hand signaling what we wanted. It turned out to be quite good though I am not quite sure what we ate.
Again the pick up from the crossroad we were dropped off at was impeccable.
Jim is quite a character he is a guy who opened up a guesthouse a few good years back and offers a more Western service to his guests. A menu with steak, and spaghetti kind of made us all happy.
Jim took care of us for the next two day, the kids liked him instantly.

-Open bracket- In the few days we have been here China delivered exactly what I expected, Large plains and Valleys, overwhelming greens and yellows, in short nature and space beyond sight end and an emanation of peace.-Close bracket-

An amazing one and a half hour trek to visit the Yi minority village, a local market, and some amazing 'Chau Zao' style cuisine on the first day. Another market and boat ride and an amazing sighting of the cormoran fishers on the second. We picnicked on the boat, Jim brought two rows of six dim sum looking containers stacked with some more of that delicious food.
Lijiang with it's UNESCO protected old town gave us a wonderful afternoon to follow our four hour car ride,
which reminds me, we stopped for a break in the middle of nowhere on a full house parking. The toilets at the back of a huge indoor market selling spices and teas,dried lizards and mushrooms but mainly jade jewelry, a most bizarre location for such a huge commercial place.
Back to Lijiang, small alleys very touristic mainly Chinese people and again curly blond being the center of attraction.
A magnificent view from a rooftop terrace, below a soon to be opened winery where Matt sat down behind drums which revealed to all of us his new found sense of rhythm.
A wasted day at the Tiger Leaping Gorge, beautiful yet too exploited to our liking, especially after a two and a half hour car ride up. Djudj and I went for a walk and found a play ground with rental electric cars, he had a blast.
A relaxed next day in Lijiang roaming the streets. Matt found a pole he could stand on Julian and him took turns standing on it as a statue keeping as still as possible, this all on a main walking street. Every maximum two minutes someone walked by taking pictures of them. The kids were just standing doing nothing but generated such an interest by they being different it was stunning, they felt like stars, snap here snap there, they got quite good at posing and fake natural looking smiles.
In conclusion besides the yak meet and avoiding the worms, thank God for picture menu's, ordering food or for hat matter expressing anything isn't that obvious. People do not understand a word sometimes not even yes and no so thank God for theatrics and for my new English-Chinese-English app. on the iPhone.
People here are much warmer then we expected though some of them deserve a price in Ice king or queens, but mostly everyone is pretty helpful.
On to Chengdu and the panda's.
Oh oh did I mention the eleven fingered temple keeper??? ... !!!

Mainland China Pics 

HK - Is this Civilisation?

One should wonder after being here for five day if this really is civilization.
We arrived here and what a culture shock yet again. I felt like coming back to a civilized country.
Val was shocked by the fact that men were actually talking to her, and when she asked a question that males were actually talking back to her and not to me.
In the taxi from the airport no cars were driving towards us on the highway, no horns, clean water, no trash.
Coming from India we actually were in culture shock at the modernity of the place.
The rush outside, people more people walking the streets, malls and malls with every haute couture make packed together, watches, gold shops, restaurants, coffee bars.
A vibrant city.
We are staying in a very design hotel, the kind that uses an ipad where you sign on when you check out.
Great Sushi, great food every where a feast to the pallet, especially given where we were and the food we got the last two month.
The kids and I spent an afternoon together shopping for shoes and stuff we needed that Matthew has outgrown. The people trying to sell you fake watches are mostly Indian and their reaction at Matt speaking Hindi was stunning, all in awe and laughing away.
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The kids had a blast at DisneyLand Hong Kong, we couldn't stop laughing at the un-understandable explanation in English given by this young HK girl fol followed regularly by a giggle that makes me smile as I am writing this.

So here we are back in the civilized world, spending, eating, shopping, having fun, is it was so difficult to adapt to the dirt, the difference of being, the crowd, the touchiness, the food, the hawking, the bargaining and it seem so easy to get back to civilization and the way things are around here.

One thing is certain it seems the values here are different, it seems that essence here is missing.
I can't help but find myself thinking about the kindness and the spirituality I have discovered in India, the acceptance the peace of mind and kindness of people in India. The contrast is immense in every aspect but the feeling of peace of mind and true values is without parallel back in the old country.
Kowloon is one big shopping mall, a feast for the rich and wealthy, decadent in abundance of consumption. I gladly took part in it and loved the shopping and the looking for things I didn't really need, but I remain hungry for the kindness and the welcoming of India.

To quote an Indian who was buying something at the pharmacy here, he was getting a completely normal answer from a Hong Kong city girl, this could have been in any modern dense populated metropolitan city in the West, (imagine it with an Indian accent), "Why are you answering me so angry". This summed it up for me, it wasn't the content it was such the closed way she was speaking vs the openness and welcoming we had experienced.
On our way to mainland China tomorrow morning for what is going to be a long day of travel, I am looking forward to the nature at the foot of the Himalaya.

Concluding India

There is quite a bit to be said about the furtherings of our travels but one thing remain constant, the kindness of the people and that special quality they have.

I’ve met a few people who described it in different ways but I guess this one is to me what describes it best. Take the amount of people there are here on let say a market place and put them any where in Europe on a same size place sooner or later the Europeans will start pushing, shoving, elbowing and chances a fight would start here or there are within reality thinking. Here in India everything just seems to flow and mingle and fit. One may claim it is due to the habit of things, people here are used to it. I prefer to view it as a more spiritual equilibrium, people are in acceptance and respect of who they are where they are. I am not taking away the differences caused by the casts and the wealth nor any injustice nor corruption yet at risk of repeating myself again and again, people here seem resigned to where they are today.

Our driver has continued taking us to many a place in Rhajastan and frankly we are getting tired of Temples, Forts, Drought, and Dirt.

Having said that we have seen beautiful places, Agra was on our maybe list.

As in everything we got contradictory opinions ranging from I cried when I saw the Taj Mahal, to don't go there it's not worth the money. Anyhow Agra would be our last destination of our Rhajastan tour (for the 'piereke justs' I know it is in UP).

The Taj revealed yet again to be one of those wonders of the world you need to have seen, we were amazed by it especially knowing the story behind it, despite our french speaking guide rattling his rap and more interested to show of his french then explaining what it was all about.

We were now ready for our twelve hour, third class sleeper train to Varanassi...or are you ever ready for that. The reactions we got on Facebook after posting about that were everything but encouraging.

Our driver dropped us of in the train with our luggage, I secured the luggage to each other by means of two cable locks I had brought, and Val beckoned me to get the cotton sleeping bags out.

To accentuate our train adventure we were divided, Val and the kids, me alone.

A quick description of the third sleeper class is needed for those of you who haven't traveled India.

You have a wagon as in any western country, space management is different here.

One compartment holds six beds, three left three right.

A corridor separates the six berths for a one bed row in the length where two bunk beds are present.

No doors only curtains.

Val went to bed after killing a few roaches, the kids were already fast asleep.

I climbed up on my upper bunk and tried to catch some zeez, which I succeeded in waking up every hour. My neighbors struck up a conversation at one in the morning for about then minutes and the woman across the whole had what seemed to be a full cooking equipment of brass pots and pans fall on the floor around three AM. Other then that I was awake at four since the train was arriving at five thirty. We woke up the kids at five to be ready on time and time was definitely on our side since the train had over three hours delay. Was it horrible? Let's just say it wasn't the most pleasant experience I had, but I wouldn't flinch if I had to do it again, mind you I'd look into other possibilities first. Vals story is less positive then mine. Would she do it again? Ask her!!!

To top up the arrival at eight thirty instead of five we got picked up by a guy who led us to a tuk tuk, one tuk tuk, claiming it wouldn't be a problem to fit us all in and the luggage.

We took an extra tuk tuk and after an hours drive amongst coal trucks and a craze of queues we finally got to the hotel or so we thought. Another walk in the narrow old Varanasi alleys and fifteen minutes later we got to the hotel. Was our room ready? Well not quite, luckily our stomachs were empty enough to have a long meal on the rooftop restaurant of the guest house we finished at the same time the room was cleaned, Varanasi clean hasn't got the same significance as our clean, still to tired to even argue, clean enough! The view from the room on the Ganges river was stunning, the river isn't quite as wide as I thought it would be. We all laid down for a well deserved siesta.

 

 ---My Varanasi Experience---

Varanasi was once described to me as Jerusalem times ten and I must say this place holds this unexplainable energy you find only in certain places around the world, Jerusalem certainly being one of them.

There is something that cannot be explained rationally; there is a feeling, a flow of something. I strongly believe that each and every one of us emits a certain vibe, a certain currant, an energy that can be felt even physically. I know I’ve entered places where a couple just had a fight and fell the heaviness physically of the remains of this vibe people left there. Well a similar kind of energy can be felt in Varanasi, a beautiful harmonious, peaceful feeling. A very powerful stream of positivity, acceptance, Love, faith and acceptance. A colorful feel being literally seeing it or emotionally feeling it. This place has had body’s burning and according to the people here souls transiting for centuries on end.

We took the kids to the ‘Burning Ghats’ after giving it a lot of thought and there was nothing really shocking about what we saw. Having said that the graphic description I am about to give is even when I think about it quite startling but being there and experiencing it on the spot had nothing shocking to it.

The families first bring there wrapped dead relative to bathe in the Ganges the bodies are laid to dry and then burnt. We saw some bodies burning a skull sticking out or an arm blackened and burnt sticking out but this was perceived by us as a ‘normal’ thing. I cannot explain the ease of acceptance of what we saw being it us or the kids, there seemed to be something beautiful about the whole ritual. Perhaps the most shocking thing were the dogs roaming the fires for left over but even then it seems Varanasi had it’s spell on us and it didn’t move us the way I thought it ‘should’ move us.

I suppose the guy making hamburgers with his hands, taking cow shit he had collected to roll them into patties to be used as a coal replacement for cooking or fire was more shocking to us then anything.

The ceremonies in the evening where hundreds of people gather to watch and pray with the priests and the ‘Brahmins’ providing a colorful pallet of sari’s in front of the Ganges, repeated today, every day, come rain or shine, as they have been repeated since years and will be repeated for many more to come.

The river itself that seems to purify itself through some mysterious process, the cholera bacteria does ‘NOT’ survive in the Ganges.

The pilgrims being convinced and sincere or just out to get by easily dressed in color with there faces ornamented in varieties of painted designs begging for a few rupees or pausing in front of the camera to ‘earn’ there meagre donation.

The cows on the stairs or in the narrow streets. The constant need of watching where you put your feet down.

The stream of people along the riverbeds, in the streets, on little boats on the river. The homes where people are waiting to die, are coming to die here by the Ganges in Varanasi the holy of holies in India.

Val and I where on the same wave length throughout our stay here, we could have stayed a lot longer but Varanasi really isn’t a place where kids can be entertained more then a few days. The filth is like nowhere I have ever seen, the streets are narrow and packed, and the heat is bearable between five and nine in the morning and from six onwards in the afternoon.

I cannot describe in writing, thoughts or words the feeling that reigns here, you must be here amidst the crowd, on the Ghats to know what I am talking about and feel the power that resides here.

This place is one of the most beautiful places I have been to, ironically it is also the most dirty place I have been to.

Here again I fall in the cliché of quoting contradictory things about India.

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We left Varanasi with a hunger for more and a feeling of we had enough (I know another contradiction) towards Goa.

Not much to report here apart from a beautiful hotel, great food, a wonderful beach, a kids corner and the kids being taken by the gourmet restaurants Chef to the kitchen to ‘help out’ in the mis en place. What did we see of Goa well ... nothing!

A short flight back to Mumbai a Passover seder with Chabad, Matthew singing ‘Ma Nishtana’ and ‘Echad Mi Yodea’  in front of everyone. A bit Long, boring, bad food but excellent company led me to the much awaited next day to meet Maarten and David.

It is so welcome to have close friends even for a short period when you’ ve been on the move, away from home for so long. It  was a day of talking and enjoying each others company, I had been longing for that since the day I left, I knew it was in the stars it just had to come together.

As I said to D and Maarten we have been taken care of so far, nothing in our trip has happened by accident, everything seemed to have it’s reason in order to bring things to a smooth passage.

We took an early tour of the biggest slum in Asia, yes the one where Slumdog Milionair was filmed. Val and I were expecting the sights we had seen in Rajasthan but this was similar yet something else.

The garbage and smells and poor sanitary installations were one thing but the amount of people packed together in such a small surface was amazing.

We walked through the tiny dark alleys, looking at two, three story high rooms of three by three meters were families of God knows how many were living side by side and on top of each other. I can’t remember what the density of the population was here but when we were told we flinched. It might be worth looking it up, the population density of Dharveti slum.

Again here the acceptance of once faith, of once place is amazing.

Whether it’s the kids playing on the piles of shit, or the adult carrying it’s oversize load of plastic on his head, there seems to be a peace.

India is a country that has brought me so many different feelings.

My hate and repulsion I sometimes experienced in the beginning of our visit here has been changed into a genuine appreciation of the people, this country holds life in every form people really live here. And though I have seen but a fraction of India I know I’ll come back for it holds a beauty that I have never fell before.

I must insist on feeling here because it is certainly not the most beautiful place I've been to but again it is probably one of the places that has moved me the most. And for that I am grateful.

Namasté.