Trip to Kham, Spring 2006

My blog

2006-05-30T17:35:00.000+02:00

I resumed posting in my normal blog. You're all invited to visit it if you want to read more about me.

And if you like it, you can even add it to your internet favorites and visit it from time to time.

It's right here.

Pix from my trip

2006-05-30T15:25:00.000+02:00

You'll find here a collection of picture from my stay in Rigul and Yachen.

Brussels, 10 pm

2006-05-22T22:17:00.000+02:00

I reached home safely but tired. Going to bed!

In Beijing's airport

2006-05-22T04:35:00.000+02:00

Everything went fine so far. Woke up at 4.30 am. The taxi arrived at 5 am sharp. He took small roads to avoid the Airport Express Highway and it's toll. I took some minutes more but I was still well on time for my 7 am flight. To my great surprise my bag was actually less than 20 kg.
The flight to Beijing in a B757 went well they even got my vegetarian meal (VGML) booking. Actually I got the exact same plate as everybody else (rice soup but I got it before and with nice VGML stickers on it. Isn't that great?
After two hours, we reached Beijing. Got my luggage in less than 10 minutes. I then moved to the departure floor and checked in for Paris. The flight is on time and I got a window seat. As for the inbound flight, it's a B747.
It seems that I'll be in Brussels tonight exactly as planned. Very good.

In the days to come I'll slowly upload pictures to illustrate the different posts.

Thank you for visiting again soon.

Chengdu, day two.

2006-05-21T09:48:00.000+02:00

It's mid-afternoon in Chengdu and it's warm. It was quite colder at 8
am this morning when I went to visit the Wenshu Monastery. I had
trouble finding my way around the different small temples. I have no
idea where the relics were. I was hoping to have breakfast there but
the restaurant was still closed. So after the short visit, I walked
back (5 minutes) to the hotel to have a banana pancake. It's a change
from Tsampa or Chinese rice soup. I left again around 9 am for
shopping. I was hoping to change money but it's sunday and banks are
open but don't change money. If necessary I'll use my bank card and
get money from the ATM nearby.
I took the bus to the Tibetan market. More than 60 small shops
located in the same area. I got some malas and king size katags in
prevision of HHDL's visit in Belgium in ten days. I then took a taxi
to the extreme southern part of Chengdu hoping to be able to find
some DVD for my daughters. Nothing much to report there. It's cheap
but the quality is very low. Unable to find a bus, a taxi took me
back to the center. I walked a few minutes in this huge building
where they have thousands of small clothing shops and "billions" of
noisy people walking in the small alley between them. After the calm
of Kham, that was too much for me and I left without buying anything.
I then walked for about an hour in the direction of the hotel. So
many shops, so many new buildings, so many people. I stopped at the
Wenshu Monastery for lunch. They claim the their restaurant is one of
the most famous vegetarian restaurants in China. Their speciality is
"meat-like looking" dishes. They even gave them meat name. I ordered
"Beef with tofu". It really looked like meat. I had to chew and look
at it to see that was not meat (well, I hope so!). It was supposed to
be moderately spicy. I can't imagine what very spicy taste like... I
then walked to the monastery shop where I bought some very nice and
quite cheap malas. My idea is to have these malas blessed by HHDL and
HH Karmapa (if I go to Bodhgaya next winter) and bring them back here
for gift to my friends in Rigul and Yachen.
After posting this, I'll rest for a bit in my air-conditionned room
and then go for another walk (I may go to the monastery for extra
malas....). Tonight it will be packing time, I ordered a taxi for 5
am next morning. My plane for Beijing it at 7.10 am.

In Chengdu

2006-05-21T01:22:00.000+02:00

I arrived in Chengdu around 3 pm on saturday. I decided to change
hotel this time and went to the Mix Hostel (www.donkey-pal.com). It's
in the northern side of the city and quite different from the Traffic
Hotel. The main advantages are cheaper price (70 RMB/night for a
double instead of 250 RMB/night) and free wi-fi access in the
courtyard lounge.
After settling in, I went for some shopping. I also tried to fix my
iPod. It crashed on the road from Kandze to Dartsedo/Kanding when
reaching the summit of a pass. Until now I haven't been able to
restore it. I don't mind if the data is lost (the originals are home)
but I'll have no music during the long ((day!) flight back to Paris.
As always, Chengdu is cloudy. Actually, I haven't seen the sky since
I reached Dartsedo/Kanding. It's not too warm but we had thunderstorm
and rain in the evening.
On sunday, I intend to visit the Wenshu Monastery which contains a
precious bone relic of Shakyamuni Buddha; then do some more window
shopping particularly in the Tibetan road in south Chengdu.

In Kanding - It's almost over!

2006-05-19T13:13:00.000+02:00

I'm in my hotel room in Kanding. The drive from Kandze was alright
(10h45), the weather was great.

Yesterday, Khenpo Senge and I returned from Yachen. Here are some
details of my stay there.

Sunday May 14th

Due to the snowfall the preceding two days, the bus service to Yachen
was suspended. I decided to go for a FWD/jeep type taxi. It was much
more expensive but I had "more money than time"! At 4784 meters, the
Tsoda-la pass on the way to Yachen was actually the highest point of
my travel. There was indeed a lot of snow and it was clear that it
wouldn't have been possible for the bus to reach the top. After the
pass, the plateau actually runs at more than 4,400 meters. We reached
Yachen (N 30°56.657' E099°36.637' 3937 meters) after three and half
hours of driving. The place was soaked due to the melting snow and
all the small paths/streets were muddy and slippery. Khenpo Senge
took me to a family from Rigul that lives in Yachen in the area
reserved for lay people, we are going to stay in their house. The
family daughter, Tsering Lhamo, is a nun and Yeshe Cheutso's best
friend. She spent part of her youth in Lhasa and understands very
well my broken Tibetan. As last year, she's going to be my translator!
When we arrived the whole community of monks and nuns was at the
second day of a 7 days prayer gathering from 5 am to 5.30 pm (with
many tea breaks and a longer lunch break!).

Yeshe Cheutso (left) and friend

They went to call Yeshe Cheutso around 4 pm. It was nice to see her
again. She's doing very well it seems. When the prayers were
finished, the other nuns that I met and photographed last year came
over to say hello and get printouts of my pix. It was a lot of fun.

Monday May 15th to Wednesday 17th

We had great weather during all our stay there with a clear sky most
of the time. It was freezing at night! In the morning I would go to
the prayer hall/tent that holds more than 10,000 ordained people.
Lama Achuk, the main master of the monastery, was present during the
morning sessions and gave advice/teachings at several occasions. I
video taped most of them, hopefully someone will translate them for me.
So I sat, outside the tent, with other lay people, listening to the
chanting and recitations.
In the afternoon, Yeshe Cheutso and Tsering Lhamo skipped the prayers
to stay with me and Khenpo. We would spend the afternoon discussing
and drinking tea. On one occasion, Khenpo gave a small teaching. We
also twice walked along the Kora/circumbulation path around Yachen.

I must say that I really enjoyed my stay there. It was a real
pleasure to meet Tsering Lhamo's family. Spending some time around
such a master as Lama Achuk and with such dedicated yogis and yoginis
is a real inspiration and boost for my personal buddhist practice. I
feel blessed and very lucky to have such a connection with this place
and it's people.

Tsering Lhamo & Yeshe Cheutso

Thursday May 16th

We woke up at 5 am to be at the bus stop at 6 am to take the bus back
to Kandze. We had purchased tickets the night before. We were on time
but there was no bus! It left during the night and nobody could say
when it would return. So, with the other bus passengers, we waited
and waited for a car/taxi to Kandze to pass. We finally got one after
3 hours 1/2 of waiting in the cold. Of course it was cloudy and much
colder than the days before. We quickly said goodbye to Yeshe
Cheutso, Tsering Lhamo and her father who were brave enough to wait
with us. We all wished to see each other again very soon.
Three and half hours of bumpy and uncomfortable drive later we
reached Kandze. We went back to the Lung Ta guest house. We had a
good lunch after which I rushed to the hot springs for a bath. That
was so GOOD! So relaxing.

Friday May 17th

I took the 6.30 am bus to Kanding that I reached at 5.15 pm. Nothing
much to say. I'm a little bluesy of course! Bye bye the mountains,
the yacks, the chortens/stupas, the monasteries, the monks and nuns!
I will miss you but I'll be back next year!!!

After posting this, I'll go for dinner. My bus for Chengdu leaves at
8 am tomorrow. I'll stay at the traffic again and will post from there.

A cold day in Kandze

2006-05-13T14:59:00.001+02:00

I woke up early thanks to my noisy room companion! I spent about a
hour on the Powerbook typing my previous long post then connected to
the telephone line of the Guest House. I must reckon that they are
quite nice to let me connect without charging me anything.
Then we had a filling Chinese breakfast for 2,5 RMB (0,25 euro!) for
both of us. It was still snowing when after that Khenpo went for some
errands while I headed for a hot springs bath. As expected I really
enjoyed it. The room itself was quite cold but the water was very
warm. A real pleasure! I washed some clothes too. I better do it
there than at the guest house with cold (and I mean really cold)
water. Then I did some shopping and had a warm vegetable thukpa
(tibetan noodle soup) for lunch. After that Khenpo and I called Ringu
Tulku in Ireland to let him know about the latest news from Rigul.
Then Khenpo took me to a Thangka painting shop. I was offered a White
Tara statue by Yeshe Cheutso & Kaga's brother in Rigul and I wanted
to have it's eyes opened (i.e. painted). Only the students were in
the shop and they called the master to do the job. It turned out that
he had spent some time in India studying the art of thankga painting.
His work was quite long as White Tara has seven eyes! After an hour
of precision work he presented us a splendid statue. When Khenpo
asked for the price he said that his was happy to offer his work for
free! It really took me by surprise, what a kind man! It had stopped
snowing when we left his shop with big smile on our faces. My clothes
were less wet but far from dry. The bus to Yachen is not sure to
leave tomorrow morning because of the snow on the way. We'll have to
wait and see at 7 am. So I hope that it will not snow anymore during
the night. Tonight I'll call Brussels and hopefully speak to all my
family. I'll probably stay in Yachen (and offline) until next
thursday. My plan is to take the bus back to Kanding/Dartsedo on
friday. Since the living condition in Yachen are even more basic than
in Rigul, I really hope that the bad weather will soon be a bad
memory. So, if you have any connections with the weather man, please
use them. Thanks!

GPS Readings

2006-05-13T14:59:00.000+02:00

Here are the coordinates of some of the places I've been:

Rigul: N 32°16.970' E099°09.911' Altitude: 3707 meters

Kara Gon: N 32°16.736' E099°12.113' Altitude: 3727 meters

Muri-la: N 32°03.197' E099°00.656' Altitude: 4538 meters

Hot Springs Bus Stop near Dzogchen: N 32°10.994' E098°50.242
Altitude: 3814 meters

Have fun with GoogleEarth!

Back online!

2006-05-13T03:51:00.000+02:00

I'm now back in Kandze after a 12 days stay in Rigul. Tomorrow
(Sunday 14th), I'll leave for Yachen with Khenpo Senge.

Here's an overview of my time in Rigul.

May 1st:

We left Kandze at 3.30 am in a truck fully loaded with goods for one
of the small shops in Rigul. We were 6 passengers and we really had
to squeeze in the cabin! It was not as cold as I thought it would be
but the truck was so slow when going uphill. It was terrible! We had
our first stop in Dzogchen after 6 hours of driving (it usually takes
4 hours!). We had our breakfast there. The weather was really great.
We reached Rigul around 1.30 pm. Riga and Choden came to welcome me.
I'll stay with Choden and her family. Josine and Justin, the two
Dutch travelers that I met in the bus to Kandze, had decided to visit
Rigul too and arrived around 6 pm with Khenpo Wangpel and Doctor
Chuga. They'll stay with me at Choden's. You can check their travel
blog at www.geocities.com/jenjontour

May 2nd:

First breakfast with Tsampa, it's good to be back here. It's spring
and most families are quite busy. They have to take the yacks uphill
every day, it's also time to sow barley and to fix the house after
the winter. Their life is really tough and they work hard from early
morning to the evening.
I did some laundry in the morning (the water in the river is really,
really cold). Then we visited the school (45 kids including half a
dozen of girls). The children demonstrated very loudly their reading
talents. We visited Riga. He's quite busy as Lamas are staying at his
home to perform rituals for his mother who died a couple of weeks
ago. The day long rituals are performed for 49 days after the death.
He offered us droma (the local delicacy made of sweet potatoes and
melted butter). I actually got sick and didn't feel well for the rest
of the day!

May 3rd:

Feeling much better. We had lunch at Chuga's, I avoided droma this
time. We went to visit a few other people in the afternoon.
Everywhere we go we are offered food and drinks in large quantities.
Justin says that he feels like he's having christmas dinner every
day. I must reckon that he's a very good guest as he always accepts a
second serving. We pay a second visit to the school, this time a
dozen children individually came to us to read and write. For the
moment, Tibetan is the only topic taught at the school.
We are visited by Tsen Jo a 38 years old almost blind monk. He's
eyesight has been very bad for almost 7 years. He would like me to
find sponsors to raise the 6000 RMB (600 euros) to go to Kanding/
Dartsedo and get the operation to regain his eyesight. So it maybe
the time for you to be generous!
It rained in the evening and during the night.
May 4th:

Fog in the morning and snow on the peaks! We went to help "our
family" to sow. It's not a heavy work but it seems to require a good
technique. At noon, I had a meeting with the main lamas of the
monastery to talk about our projects here. It went quite well even if
language is sometimes a problem. Returned home in the afternoon and
was visited by the lamas running the school for a look at the
accounts. Josine and Justin did pancakes for the family. They were a
little surprised! They all say it was so delicious that they wanted
to leave it all for us. In the evening we had dinner next door. Our
guest, Dechen Palmo is the widow of Choden's brother and mother of 4.
She's working very hard to feed her family, so is her eldest daughter
Yala, who never had the chance to go to school as she has to help at
home. She's really brave I think!

May 5th:

We went with Choden to visit the surrounding villages of Kara Gon,
Kana and Api. We had a lot of food and drinks (what a surprise) but
we were good enough to avoid droma. I had a lot of fun giving
printouts of some of the pix I took last year. We walked quite a
lot, but it was great!

Among others, we visited the family of Yeshe Cheutso the nun I
sponsor in Yachen. They too recently suffered the loss of a family
member and lamas are busy performing rituals. I was told that after
the 49 days of mourning, Kaga (Yeshe Cheutso's older siter) will also
become nun and go to Yachen.

May 6th:

Josine and Justin left to continue their world tour. We drove
together to Dzogchen as I wanted to visit a local school with Riga to
get inspiration for the school in Rigul. Choden also came with us.
Josine had been sick during the night and was still feeling unwell.
We were expecting the car at 6 am, it finally arrived at 8 am! The
dive to Dzogchen was 2h30, that'd good. We visited Dzogchen
monastery, the school and then Ringu Tulku's aunt. Around 2 pm we
put Josine and Justin in a taxi for Kandze and said goodbye. They are
very fine people. I had a lot of fun with them. They were really good
at adapting to the life in Rigul. I hope that we'll stay in touch.
We'll I'm quite sure we will!
After their departure, we called Ringu Tulku to gave him the latest
news. Everybody did some shopping. I bought nun's robes for Kaga that
I have decided to sponsor and fruits and vegetables for the family.
Among the fruits was a huge water melon. Choden had no idea what it
was and first thought it was a vegetable that had to be cooked. The
drive back to Rigul was fast and easy.

May 7th:

This was my day "off". I did nothing special. The weather was great
and I was able to take a shower thanks to the sun shower that the
group from Colorado left last year. In about five hours the water was
38°C and it was a very pleasant!

May 8th:

I wanted to visit the parents of Wangchen a monk from Rigul who
studies in India and that I sponsor. They usually live in Rinchen
Ling, the village on the other side of the river. Nowadays they are
uphill with their yacks. I decided to walk there anyway. As Choden
was busy, Yala (see may 4th) came with me. The walk was more
difficult that I thought. More than 8 kilometers and 400 meters
uphill! The last two kilometers had a 10% climb rate. At the end my
heart could give the beat to a techno dance track! I had to stop
every 20 meters! We met with Laga, Wangchen's father. He offered us
tea and tsampa for lunch. The walk back (and down!) was much easier
and I was happy to reach home and have yet another shower. It rained
(snow uphill) at the end of the day.

May 9th:

I had been invited to stay overnight at Yeshe Cheutso's family in
Kara Gon. They came to fetch me with a motor bike around 11 am. After
lunch I went for a walk around Kara Gon and to Kana (1 km). There I
took pictures of people building a house. There were mostly (quite
young) girls/women carrying mud for the roof for a salary of 15 RMB
(1.5 euro) per day. Most of them never had the chance to go to
school. I really would like to do something for them, I have an idea
but more on that later.
I also visited Khenpo Senge who lives next t o the building site. He
offered me a nice welcome and (of course) some nice food. I then
returned to Kara Gon where I played cards with young monks during
their break from the funeral rituals.

May 10th:

I felt sick during the night and slept very bad. I also hurt my
forehead when going out for a pee. By the time the sun rose, I felt
really sick, tired, weak and unable to eat anything. I more or less
slept during the whole morning. Around 2 pm they drove me back to
Rigul. I went straight to bed. They called doctor Chuga in. He gave
me a cocktail of medicine that eventually got me a little better.
That's the good thing about sponsoring a local clinic, medicine is
available! I was able to eat some rice soup in the evening. Listened
to some music on the iPod to cheer me up and had a good night.

May 11th:

I was feeling a little better and had a light breakfast of noodles.

Chuga gave me another 9 pills mix. I don't like to take unknown
medicine but it sure helped me to feel better. I started to pack and
around 11 am went uphill to Chuga's place. They put me on a horse to
get there. Chuga was quite busy with many patients. I had lunch there
and yet another pill. On the way down I stopped at Riga's place. He
gave me a copy of the school accounts and letters for Ringu Tulku. He
had been unable to find a car for me to go to Dzogchen on the next
day so we'll go on bike. Khenpo Senge will travel with me up to
Yachen. The dinner home was quite with everyone giving me messages
and letter for Ringu Tulku and his familly.

May 12th:

First thing I did when I woke up was to look trough the window to
check the weather. Well, it was not nice: foggy and rainy. The bikes
arrived around 8 am, it was still raining. I put on many layers of
clothing and we left after the usual goodbyes. Our party was made of
three bikes (one for my luggage, one for Khenpo as passenger and one
for me as passenger). The weather got worse along the way and then
after one hour, the chain of my bikes broke. They try to fix it with
a minimal amount of tools using stones as hammer. After more than one
hour, they finally decided to send one bike to buy a new chain in the
next village. In total it took around two to three hours to fix it.
Then the weather got even worse with rain, snow and hail! We reached
the Dzogchen area around 1 pm and we stopped at the first restaurant
where we all rushed to the stove to get warm. After lunch (and some
extra bike fixing) we drove to the Hot Springs bus stop near
Dzogchen. Of couse as we had been delayed, the bus to Kandze had
already left. We then waited in the cold and rain until 5 pm when
finally at taxi to Kandze passed. Then it started to really snow
quite heavily. The climb to the Muri-la pass was done with very poor
visibility conditions and the road covered with snow. In Manigango we
almost had a head-on collision with a truck! We really got lucky! We
finally reached Kandze around 8.30 pm. We got a room at the Loung-Ta
as before. We had a quick dinner and went to bed. Then I had a
terrible night at Khenpo Sengen snored really heavily all the night
trough!

2006-05-09T22:19:00.000+02:00

FRANCOIS CALLED RINPOCHE

Francois has asked me to update his Rigul blog with any news. Ringu Tulku was in Glasgow, Scotland, from 4th until 6th May. Rinpoche told me on the morning of 6th that Francois had phoned him in the early hours of the morning from Dzogchen monastery. It seems that Francois had taken a number of people from Rigul to look at the very successful school in Dzogchen. Everyone was very impressed with the Dzogchen school and went back to Rigul with a better idea of how best they could finish building the school in Rigul. The building work has been delayed temporarily due to the recent passing of Riga's mother. Riga is the monk who does so much work for the school children.

The health clinic is still very successful and continues to grow and provide a very valuable service for the whole area. We have sent enough funds to ensure many improvements, including solar heating and lighting, as well as enough for the day to day running for at least the next year.

Rinpoche said we should also mention the recent accident on the road to Rigul about two weeks ago. A truck carrying timber to repair the old monastery roof was involved in an accident and two people were killed and a number seriously injured.

Hot springs experience!

2006-04-30T15:39:00.000+02:00

Just returned from the hot springs shower place, but I got more than just a shower. You get a private room with a huge square bath like a jacuzzi, maybe 1.5 m x 1.5 m. It's very clean, they actually clean the bath in front of you. Then they turn the water on and leave you for the time you want. The water is very warm, perfect temperature for me. I relaxed lying in the bath for half an hour. The water is a little smelly but nothing to bad. I already picture the moment I'll go back there on my return from Rigul and it's cold river washing!

After that I went to the next door big Chorten/Stupa of Kandze, did a few koras and enjoyed a walk back to the hotel.

The lamas told me over lunch that we will leave at 3 or 4 am, tomorrow morning! Quite early but definitely too cold. I'm not sure if we'll get a car going direct to Rigul or first go with the bus to Dzogchen and then get a car.

I haven't mentioned yet that the weather is amazing here. Blue sky with only a few white clouds. By 11 am you can take your sweater off. The only thing is to be careful with the sun, it's very strong and sun cream is compulsory.

Kandze, Sunday morning

2006-04-30T04:01:00.000+02:00

The daugther from the guest house owner and her friends

I'm at the Lung Ta (Windhorse = prayer flag) guest house in Kandze (N
31°37.185' E099°59.161' Alt: 3349 meters). I just had breakfast after
a good night of sleep. I'll spend another 24 hours here and then
leave with the Lamas from Rigul.

Yesterday's drive was alright despite being sometimes bumpy. The bus
left on time at 6.15 am when the sun was about to rise. It took us
one hour to reach the top of the Gye La pass. It was cold but not too
bad. We only stopped three or four times, including a longer one for
lunch at Tawu (N 30°58.528' E101°08.020' Alt: 2955 meters). The
afternoon was much warmer and I ended the drive with only a t-shirt.
We reached Kandze around 5.40 pm. I decided to go to the guest house
I stayed at last year as they were very kind. I'm actually sharing
the room with a young Dutch couple on a one year trip in Asia that I
met in the bus. The comfort here is quite basic but it's good enough
and the owner was kind enough to let me use his private phone line to
connect last night. When I later met Chuga and Khenpo Senge from
Rigul it appeared that they are actually staying in the same guest
house. After a couple of tries, we were abel to phone Ringu Tulku in
Scotland to give him the latest news. I also got myself a new sim
card for my mobile as I could not recharge the one I had. They told
me that I should be able to use it in Dzogchen (a big monastery &
village near Rigul, see www.dzogchenmonastery.cn )and in Yachen. But
there are few odd things, I can send to but not receive sms from
outside China and I can receive but not give call from outside china.
Well I actually received one call from my father after I sent him a
test sms, but Ringu Tulku tried to call but without success. So maybe
I can't even receive calls from outside after all. We'll see.

At first I wanted to go to Rigul today but as the Lamas still have a
few things to do here, it was decided to leave tomorrow May 1st. It
gives me the opportunity to relax and rest a bit here. I washed some
clothes this morning (the water was SO cold!) and I'll go for a
shower at the hot springs this afternoon. The smell is quite bad but
it is said to be very healthy. I'll also try to contact the family of
Yushi. Yushi was our translator when Arnaud and I first came here in
July 2004. She doesn't leave here anymore but i think it would be
nice for me to say hello.

I now plan to stay in Rigul for about 10 days, with a visit to
Dzogchen and/or Tsa-Tsa in the middle. Actually I would like to take
a few of the people from Rigul to visit a school in Dzogchen. The
school was sponsored by the Zangdok Palri foundation in Brussels
(www.zangdokpalri.net I think, or look for a link on
www.patrulrinpoche.org). I'm not sure in Rigul people have a real
idea of what a school could be.

Last night, I showed the Lamas my pix from last year. It was not
always fun as a couple of times person on the pic died recently. So
I'm not sure I'll show them again. I had some pictures printed and
I'll give them.

I'll leave you here. I'll now try to find the guest house owner and
ask him to connect. I hope to be able to do it again tonight. We'll
leave early tomorrow morning and I'll not be able to connect after that.

In Kandze - Buisness has started

2006-04-29T14:12:00.000+02:00

I'm typing this with three lamas from Rigul behind me. We met soon
after my arrival in Kandze. We already have some work to do so I'll
make it short right now. I'll try to connect later tonight!

Kanding, Friday 5.30 am

2006-04-28T23:46:00.000+02:00

Again the night was not the longest, maybe it's because of the altitude. At least it gives me the opportunity to type and try to send this post. I'm going to put on my Damart today. I think it's going to be needed. It's still going to be night when the bus leave and it goes straight to the Gye La pass (4290 meters), the highest point of today's journey. I fear that some of the bus windows will not close well so I expect a few freezing drafts inside.
I'll have a biscuit breakfast in the bus and we will stop for lunch in Tawu around noon.
Last year there was nobody at the hotel reception when I left at the same time of the day. I wonder if they will charge me anything for the time I connected to the internet.
I will (hopefully) let you know tonight.

Still from Kanding, from my hotel room

2006-04-28T17:30:00.000+02:00

I had a nice dinner despite the late hour. Most of the restaurants are closed. Stopped at a first one they could only speak chines, I don't and since I want to eat vegetarian I didn't try at pointing anything on the menu (in Chinese only of course).
Then I had the idea of finding a Tibetan (you recognize them by the way they dress) and ask them to order for me. When I was almost back at my hotel, I passed in front of a very small (and far from clean) chinese restaurant with four Tibetan women at one of the two tables. I went to them and relatively easily explained them that I wanted to have something without meat. Noodle soup & vegetable it will be.
I chatted a bit with them, with the "usual" type of question: Where are you from? How old are you? Do you have kids? What's your work? All of them had two kids as minorities are allowed to have two kids in China. They all greeted me when the left and told me that they had paid for my dinner. Isn't that great?

When returning to my room, I discovered that there was a telephone line. As someone nicely tipped me a few weeks ago, there is a free number valid in all chine where you can connect via dial-up without registration necessary. I really had to try, so here I'm, in pajamas with my laptop typing this post. It's working quite well :-)

But it's almost 11.30 pm. I brush my teeth and go to bed! By the way, I just noticed that it's nice to stay close to the bus station when you have to walk there with your bags, but maybe it's not the ideal place to have silence at night :-(Still from Kanding, from my hotel room

Mobile number!

2006-04-28T16:12:00.000+02:00

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I'm hqving troubles with my two yers old Chinese SIM card. I'll have to buy a new one, with a new phone number, in Kandze tomorrow.

Kanding, where's my welcome party?

2006-04-28T15:38:00.000+02:00

As planned, I'm now in Kanding N 30 03.351' E 101 57.877' (sorry I can't find the degree key!) altitude 2500 meters. The 6 hours journey from went very well. I enjoyed using the GPS and it's altimeter function. I'm getting used to it... It will really prove helpful if I want to return to the Internet Cafe I'm at now. Had to ask many locals to find it but the speed is quite okay actually.

So I was expecting Chuga to be waiting for me at the bus station. Well, he was not! After walking for one hour around the bus station carying my bags, I got a room in the small hotel I stayed in last time. 100 RMB (10 euros) for a single room. Went walking some more without the bags hoping to meet Chuga or hear from him. I had a phone number of a contact in Kanding but nobody was answering. I finally reached that person two hours after my arrival and I was told that Chuga already left a couple of days ago.

So I went back to the bus station and booked a seat for tomorrow 6.15 am bus to Kandze. It's a 13 hours drive. But it's a pleasant one as the landscape is amazing. It seems to change with every valley.

It's less cold than what I expected, it was actually quite warm when the sun was shining in a perfectly blue sky.

I'll not make it longer today. I had no dinner yet. But as a good reporter, I first publish my post and then I can relax ;-)

As, said before, I have no idea when I'll be able to connect again. The further you go from Chengdu, the worse the bus and roads get and the more difficult I think it will be to connect.

But maybe I'll have a good surprise tomorrow, I guess we'll all know in 24 hours.

I'm a godfather!

2006-04-28T03:37:00.000+02:00

It has nothing to do with my trip but Alice was born around 4 pm yesterday. Congratulations to her parents Thierry (my brother) and Veronique and to her two brothers Simon and Nemo.

Pix from Chengdu

2006-04-28T03:31:00.000+02:00

Went for a short walk around the hotel this morning.

Can't sleep!

2006-04-28T03:30:00.000+02:00

It's 6 am (UTC+8) and I'm already awake. I can't sleep. It's probably a combination of jet lag and of the excitement of being back here. I have to go to the bank and to do some shopping before my bus leaves at 1 pm but nothing opens before 9 am. So I have some time to relax in my room and to take full advantage of the bathroom here. I'm not sure of when I'll be able to get a hot shower after leaving Chengdu. There are some public showers fed by hot springs in Kandze but I'm not sure that I'll have the time to stop there.
In Rigul, I'll have to wash at one of the small streams running trough the village. It's going to be so cold...
As you may have guessed, the living conditions in Rigul are basic at the most. No electricity, no water pipe, no toilets, ... When I say no electricity, it's not totally true. A couple of people have generators and quite few have small solar panels. A solar unit comprises a small panel, a battery and one or two bulbs. You can buy them in Kandze. Prices start at 1,000 RMB (100 euros).
Today's drive to Kanding should be very smooth. Two hours of highway, then a two hours climb to the tunnel below the Khakha Buddha La pass followed by another couple of hours to Kangding.
Carine Theys, a friendly colleague of mine was kind enough to lend me a small GPS receiver that also features an altimeter. It has many features but the HMI is not that good and I should spend some more time on the user manual. If the satellite coverage is good enough, I will at least try to provide coordinates for the place I pass trough. I suggest you to paste them into Google Earth to give you an idea of my position on the globe and of my progression. Of course the photos for China are not that detailed. Have a look at Chengdu for example! (Type in "Chengdu, China".)
Googling the names of the places I go trough should also provide you with many details and other traveler's reports. The only difficulty is that most places usually have one name in Tibetan and one in Chinese and there are sometimes variations in the phonetic transliteration. For example, Kandze is Garze in Chinese and Kangding is Dartsedo for Tibetans.

Anyway, I'll leave you here, it's shower time and I'm going to enjoy it!

PS: First GPS Reading
Traffic Hotel
N 30°38.862'
E 104°04.224'
Satellite Altitude 477 metres

Strange ways of internet in China

2006-04-27T15:28:00.000+02:00

It seems that I can post on my blog but I can't access it. Don't ask me why. I just hope it comes out alright. Maybe one of you can send me a mail to let me know that the posts actually appear on the page.

April 27th: Chengdu

2006-04-27T15:04:00.000+02:00

I arrived in Chengdu around 6 pm local time that's a 2 hrs delay, that's not too bad for a 24 hrs trip. The weather is nice, just warm enough to my taste. I'll staying at the Traffic Hotel (www.traffichotel.com) as always. It's ideally located next to Chengdu South's bus station. I already purchased my ticket for tomorrow. I'm leaving at 1 pm to (hopefully) reach Kanding around 7 pm. The road is very good. So the journey is not too uncomfortable. Normally a couple of lamas from Rigul (including Chuga) should be waiting for me there.
I'm posting this from the wi-fi equipped little cafe opposite to the Traffic Hotel. I think that from tomorrow onwards it will be dial-up at best. And then nothing from Kandze onwards.

Thank you for surfing by my blog and come again soon.

Live from the city of lights!

2006-04-26T17:05:00.000+02:00

Didn't sleep much last night. We had dinner at my parents then returned home to prepare packing, check all the papers, send a few e-mails, ...
I went for some last minute shopping this morning then took an early lunch before leaving home around 11.45 am. There was some traffic but I reached the train station just in time. It's a pleasure to take this Brussels-Paris train, it's just so fast and you arrive right in the middle of the airport. I crossed Justine Hennin in the hall, no idea where she's heading to! I leave it to sport fans to answer that question. She didn't ask for my autograph, it's nice to meet someone who respect your privacy ;-)

It seems that my flight (Air China 934) is on time today, last year it was delayed by 4 or 5 hours. Last year the in-flight entertainment was terrible. So I loaded my Powerbook with one "24" and two "Alias" episodes but, I guess that I should try to get some sleep too as there will be more traveling during the next four days.

Just completed check-in, have seat 17A. That is window in front of the plane. Very good as the lines for the passport check are always gigantic in Beijing. I have two hours there to get my luggage and check-in again for Chengdu. The domestic flight is also Air China so I can't understand why they can't send my bag directly to Chengdu. 21st century, you said?

Time to sign off, thank you for checking the blog. I'll connect again as soon as possible (hopefully in Chengdu).

My travel schedule

2006-04-25T13:47:00.000+02:00

Here are the details of my planned itinerary, of course things do not always go as planned ;-)

Wednesday April 26th: Train Brussels to Paris and flight Paris to Beijing
Thursday April 27th: Flight Beijing to Chengdu
Friday April 28th: Bus Chengdu to Kangding/Dartsedo
Saturday April 29th: Bus Kangding to Kandze
Sunday April 30th: Taxi from Kandze to Rigul

Stay in Rigul, visit to Dzogchen (phone) and/or Tsa-Tsa (phone). Return to Kandze and stay in Yachen.

Thursday May 18th: Kandze
Friday May 19th: Bus Kandze - Kangding
Saturday May 20th: Bus Kangding to Chengdu
Sunday May 21st: Chengdu
Monday May 22nd: Flights Chengdu to Beijing and Beijing to Paris. Train Paris to Brussels

Itinerary Chengdu to Rigul

2006-04-24T06:53:00.001+02:00

You will find here a detailed intinerary from Chengdu to Rigul. Links are given for the current weather in Chengdu, Dartsedo/Kangding and Kandze/Garze. The weather in Rigul should be similar to Kandze. Still a little cold!

Yachen Who's Who: Tsering Lhamo & Yeshe Cheutso

2006-04-23T14:48:00.000+02:00

I met Yeshe Cheutso (right) in Rigul in 2004 when she was about to become a nun and decided to help her financially. I met Tsering Lhamo (left) during my first visit to Yachen in 2005. She speaks the Lhasa dialect and can understand my broken Tibetan.

Rigul Who's Who: Choden

2006-04-23T14:47:00.000+02:00

Choden (left) initiated and supervise the clinic's project.

Rigul Who's Who: Chuga

2006-04-23T14:46:00.000+02:00

Chuga is Rigul's clinic doctor

Rigul Who's Who: Riga

2006-04-23T14:44:00.000+02:00

Riga (right) is Rigul monastery' secretary

Rigul Who's Who: Wangpel

2006-04-23T14:42:00.000+02:00

Khenpo Wangpel (left) supervised the building of the new shedra

New blog space

2006-04-23T09:30:00.000+02:00

Just created this blog to post during my trip to Kham.

I'm leaving next wednesday!