Andy Smart's Blog, page 3

Cross China Road Trip 07: Gansu Province, Xiahe. Circumambulation via Prayer Wheels on the Kora Path

Updated with link to new video on YouTube: Max China. Find below and enjoy.

Circumambulate:

‘To walk or go about or around, especially ceremoniously’

Built in 1709, Labrang is one of the most important monasteries outside of Tibet – click to enlarge

Xiahe is a Tibetan town in Southern Gansu where pilgrims converge from afar to do the Kora/Pilgrim Path. As part of the surrounding wall, this is a three kilometer clockwise journey of the most colourful prayer wheels that go the entire distance around the old town and Labrang Monastery.

click to enlarge

This warren of small white buildings is home to more than a thousand monks studying at the Labrang Monastery. I admit to giving in after only half an hour when my right arm just couldn’t take it anymore. However people were still striding past, spinning with an energy and mumbling prayers that would no doubt take them all the way. Just when you thought you were done, at regular intervals there are many other temples and also buildings with larger prayer wheels requiring a bit more elbow grease to get them going.

click to enlarge

People also walk around the town in the same clockwise direction, the path taking them high up round the back of the buildings to an amazing view. They regularly stop to kneel touching the walls with their forehead facing towards the temple as a sign of respect.

 

 

 

I admit I’d forgotten the devotion that Tibetans place into Buddhism. Even the elderly who walk hindered by age using a stick to help them with their mobility will take the Kora. One woman shuffles forward on her belly with wooden blocks under her hands and knees then sits upright to say a prayer every few meters.

Its going to take her days to get the whole way around.

Filed under: China, Cross China Road Trip, On the Road Tagged: adventure, blog, blogging, China, Chinese, life, Photography, Tibet, Travel, travel tales, travelogue, video

Cross China Road Trip: YouTube Channel

 

Beijing to Kashgar along the Southern Silk Road and across the Qinghai Province

Hi there all

Along the way I’ve been filming as much of the trip as possible and have started to upload it onto my YouTube channel. Well having said that my camcorder decided to destroy my memory card erasing 1000 miles of footage; infuriating!

Phew, its a whole new ball park to blogging but immensely good fun.

Anyway, feel free to drop by and come along for the ride.

Its hard work getting things off the ground so your support would go a long way.

Please subscribe and don’t forget to give us the thumbs up. All comments are open.

CLICK HERE TO SKIP STRAIGHT TO THE CHANNEL

Filed under: China, Chinese Provinces, Cross China Road Trip Tagged: adventure, Asia, China, Chinese, life, Photography, stories, Travel, travelogue, video, videos, YouTube

5 Reasons Why Travelling is Guaranteed to Make You Lose Weight by the Kilo

While I’m playing catch up with the YouTube channel I thought I’d take a quick diversion from the Cross China Road Trip.

After a week or so on the road I soon noticed the need to put my hands in my pockets to pull up my trousers. After a second week it was becoming so annoying that there was no choice but to make a new hole in my belt. Surprisingly there was more than an inch between that and the original hole.

A month on during the national holiday, the wifey decided to join me for a few days, catching the plane and grabbing a hotel in the next city.

“Why are you always pulling your trousers up? You don’t see anyone else pulling up their trousers up do you?” she pointed out, clearly irritated by my behaviour.

Incredibly, I must have been shedding the pounds like a dog shaking off water and that was only at the beginning of the trip! Consequently another hole was added to the belt.

So, if you’ve tried it all and you’re still unable to make any progress then there’s only one thing for it.

Hit the road!

Here are five completely watertight reasons why travelling will definitely result in heavy weight loss. Bear in mind that by the word ‘travelling’ I don’t mean cruising around Europe, America or any other place where your usual comforts, habits and temptations will be at arm’s reach. Instead going adventure styley across Asia, Africa or South America where you may well be out of your comfort zone is definitely the name of the game. From this point on I will refer to Asia as I have zero experience in the latter of the three but I have a feeling that things may be fairly similar.

1: Comfort Eating. Normally this one gets thrown straight off the bus as soon as you hit the road. I mean when do people normally comfort eat? After work of course! Well hey, guess what? You’re not at work so therefore that routine of hitting the larder doesn’t exist anymore. And why do people comfort eat? Normally it’s the excuse that they’re tired, bored or lonely. Yes, when you’re on the road you will definitely feel tired and if you’re travelling solo may at times feel lonely, but these are different variations of those feelings. Tiredness usually comes with a sense of satisfaction and being by yourself is also met with one of adventure. Oh and of course you’ll rarely feel bored.

2: No Fast Food. Well at least in the UK, we are used to shovelling vast amounts of processed food down our necks as part of our daily diet. Back in England my freezer was continually filled with an assortment of chips (French fries in the U.S.), sausages and el cheapo burgers. Hmmmm, tasty! Friday was always ‘chip night’ in our household and our local chip shop won an award for best chippy in the neighbourhood. My kitchen cupboards would be stacked up with a huge amount of peanuts and crisps (potato chips U.S.) while wifey would have her own personal cupboard-arsenal of chocolate cakes and biscuits. Of course with the age of McDonald’s and KFC in most towns the temptation is still there, but they’re really not something you’re going to eat at with any form of regularity when you’re travelling all the time.

Generally people eat healthily and in smaller portions and in Asia chopsticks are preferred to the shovel-speed eating techniques employed via a fork or spoon. Meat is eaten in smaller quantities, especially beef. No puddings! Hot places mean you drink lots of water instead of tea or coffee. There aren’t many chocoholics in Asia! Outside of cities, food may be home grown organic.

3: No Carbs. Yes, everyone has carbohydrates in their diet unless you’re an Inuit that is. At least in Asia though, most people aren’t used filling their stomachs like ‘we’ do in the West. By that I mean zero pasta and minimal use of potatoes therefore no chips, no crisps and no mash AAAAAAGH! Mercy! Also people don’t do bread half as much so there is less wheat in their diet AAAAAAAGH! This means no sandwiches with any form of regularity. People don’t do dairy products much in Asia which means less cheese and butter. Serious!

4: Bad guts and spicy food! I must admit that in China I’ve never had a serious case of food poisoning not like some of the horror stories I’ve heard from India or Nepal. Either way though, at some point you’re going to drink the wrong water or eat something slightly dodgy that will keep you wondering where the nearest WC is at least for a few days. It sounds nasty, but it’s actually all part of nature’s wonderful crash-diet plan that never fails.

Food can be really super-hot as well. Beware! Apparently spicy food will raise your metabolism, and thus burn off those calories.

5: Journeys can be long. When you’re travelling it may mean getting up early and spending most of the day on the road followed by finding somewhere to stay, unpacking and looking for a restaurant just when you want to keel over. During the journey you may be eating simply and re-hydrating rather that forcing another panini down. The whole process of travelling is one that slims you down whether you like it or not.

Now put these five ingredients together and it makes for one awesomely effective recipe for weight loss. It doesn’t get any better really. I mean looking great and feeling great at the same time. Normally you’ll have caught the sun along the way and having also shed off a tonne of stress your smile will tell volumes alone.

AND IT’S EFFORTLESS

What’s good about all this is that you don’t have to put one ounce of effort into it. Yes you might get hungry from time to time but generally the journey itself will distract you from your old ways. ‘No pain no gain’ simply doesn’t equate when you’re on the road since it implies that you have to go through some terrible ordeal whereas, instead you’ll be confronted by new cultures, stunning scenery and having the time of your life.

Image thanks to the awesome Bishop’s Fryer and Offie, Southam nr Stratford-on-Avon

Filed under: On the Road Tagged: Asia, blog, blogging, diet, food, health, life, lifestyle, Travel, travel tales, Travel tips, weight loss, wordpress

Cross China Road Trip: YouTube Channel

 

Beijing to Kashgar along the Southern Silk Road and across the Qinghai Province

Hi there all

Along the way I’ve been filming as much of the trip as possible and have started to upload it onto my YouTube channel. Well having said that my camcorder decided to destroy my memory card erasing 1000 miles of footage; infuriating!

Phew, its a whole new ball park to blogging but immensely good fun.

Anyway, feel free to drop by and come along for the ride.

Please subscribe and don’t forget to give us the thumbs up. All comments are open.

CLICK HERE TO SKIP STRAIGHT TO THE CHANNEL

Filed under: China, Chinese Provinces, Cross China Road Trip Tagged: adventure, Asia, China, freedom, life, Photography, Travel, travel tales, travelogue, videos, YouTube

Cross China Road Trip 07: Gansu Province, Xiahe. Circumambulation via Prayer Wheels on the Kora Path

 

Circumambulate:

‘To walk or go about or around, especially ceremoniously’

Built in 1709, Labrang is one of the most important monasteries outside of Tibet – click to enlarge

Xiahe is a Tibetan town in Southern Gansu where pilgrims converge from afar to do the Kora/Pilgrim Path. As part of the surrounding wall, this is a three kilometer clockwise journey of the most colourful prayer wheels that go the entire distance around the old town and Labrang Monastery.

click to enlarge

This warren of small white buildings is home to more than a thousand monks studying at the Labrang Monastery. I admit to giving in after only half an hour when my right arm just couldn’t take it anymore. However people were still striding past, spinning with an energy and mumbling prayers that would no doubt take them all the way. Just when you thought you were done, at regular intervals there are many other temples and also buildings with larger prayer wheels requiring a bit more elbow grease to get them going.

click to enlarge

People also walk around the town in the same clockwise direction, the path taking them high up round the back of the buildings to an amazing view. They regularly stop to kneel touching the walls with their forehead facing towards the temple as a sign of respect.

 

 

 

I admit I’d forgotten the devotion that Tibetans place into Buddhism. Even the elderly who walk hindered by age using a stick to help them with their mobility will take the Kora. One woman shuffles forward on her belly with wooden blocks under her hands and knees then sits upright to say a prayer every few meters.

Its going to take her days to get the whole way around.

Filed under: China, Cross China Road Trip, On the Road, Real lives Tagged: adventure, blog, blogging, China, life, Photography, Travel, travel tales, travelogue, Xiahe

Cross China Road Trip 06: Gansu Province, Lanzhou. Driving Stress Maximum

An amazing giant silver butterfly! That’s the toll gate between Ningxia and Gansu. A huge wave of achievement and excitement rolls through me as I pass.

The outskirts of the capital of Lanzhou is a dirty mixture of grey brickwork one the way in but it doesn’t dampen my expectations of what it’s going to be like to finally be there. I’ve always assumed that Lanzhou consists of waterways lined with willow trees while locals take it easy in the warm evening air but as per usual my hopes are quickly dashed.

The way on is across the river though the bridge is already virtually static with Saturday rush hour traffic. It curves round to the right forming three lanes you are unable to move out of. Unable to escape, I’m forced to take the Land Cruiser smack bang into the centre of town. Not quite the vehicle of choice when it comes to heavy duty intercity navigation that’s for sure.

I admit to having ditched the old method of using my eyes and a dash of common sense to find somewhere to stay early on in this excursion, having switched to using Trip Advisor and then the GPS to lazily get to the destination of choice. There are times though when one pays the price for such reliance on technology. The GPS routinely directs me into wasteland, through fruit and veg markets, pedestrian areas, up one way streets and towards large buildings that aren’t on the map. Through Lanzhou centra,l it’s blank robotic voice continues to tell me to u-turn and go into the busiest areas for maximum mind melt. Certainly painful driving in such a large motor

After fifteen intolerable minutes I happily shut the GPS up, deciding to just get out of the area as soon as possible pulling the first right at the next big junction. There are now three main factors that will determine the nature of this interesting driving soirée:

1: Lanzhou is the capital city of the Gansu Province population 3.5 million and as we already know it’s Saturday early evening rush hour traffic.

2: Lanzhou is sandwiched in between mountains in the north and south squeezing the traffic to run two ways through a valley.

3: At this moment the new underground rail system is under construction though unlike Beijing which is built in small stages, in Lanzhou it’s being built all at once. Nice planning there! Miles of road from east to west have been torn up forming temporary lanes causing traffic pandemonium.

Passing a female traffic police officer, she smiles and waves me across the intersection. I pull another right to get out of the queue. The turn sends me into a flyover and back to the same intersection where the same officer smiles at me and waves me across again. On and on, stuck in traffic that goes from static to 2mph whilst immersed in swarms of pedestrians, bikes, mopeds, motorbikes and motorized carts. It’s a sensory overload thats really wearing as you focus to the max on trying not to run into anyone, especially having already driven for seven hours.

At some point the jeep is unable to move, hemmed in by people going in every direction and a stream of lane jumping traffic moving across my bow going back the way I came. How come there aren’t multiple accidents all over the place? That’s what I want to know.

With no other options I inch forward forcing the traffic to a standstill with multiple horns sounding off from irritated drivers and, finding a gap in the temporary barriers at last there’s some space and a way on into a narrow back street area. With at last a modicum of breathing space I park up, resurrect the GPS and set it up for a hotel at least a couple of miles away. Taking on water, I crack open the blueberry travel sweets for a sugar hit, turn the keys in the ignition and we’re off again.

Maybe it’s just down to tiredness but I have however unknowingly made a single glaring error. This is not to look at the route as a whole but just follow the map a few streets ahead and I soon find out that the way on is predictably all the way back past the centre of town and out the other side, AAAAAAGH. Passing the traffic police woman she laughs as I go by for the third time. Should have got her number. Love the hat!

At last the GPS tells me “You have arrived”. Burnt out and utterly drained I climb out of the cab. Such a relief to be outside. Turns out though that the Sapphire Hotel is five stars and the only room they have left is a massive 1,800 RMB a night. That’s about 200 pounds or 270 dollars. Talk about out of place or what; the Land Cruiser is utterly filthy and the parking valet looks decidedly uncomfortable. Climbing back inside I summon the energy for another round.

Best bit of driving I’ve ever done!

Filed under: China, Chinese Provinces, Cross China Road Trip, On the Road Tagged: adventure, Asia, blog, blogging, China, Land Cruiser, Photography, Travel, travel tales, Travel tips, travelogue

Cross China Road Trip 05: Ningxia Autonomous Region, Shapotou: Camping on a Basketball Court

Really great being out of the big city. From the madness of Gao Miao Si and its dungeon from Hell, a few hours down the road is the presently empty holiday village at Shapotou as it winds down for the winter.

Yong Fa’s place

So this woman called Yong Fa flags me down and shows me her beautiful home with a courtyard converted into a vegetable garden and hanging vines. Though the rooms are really cheap I ask her if it’s possible to camp somewhere around the village. So nice, even though she’s going to miss out on a night’s rent she says it’s been raining lately so the ground isn’t great. Instead she takes me around the corner to the basketball court in front of the village hall and says I can park up there for the night. Amazing!

The camp bed fits inside nicely if you take out the water and petrol containers

Had a lot of curious locals turn up

Filed under: Chinese Provinces, Cross China Road Trip, On the Road Tagged: adventure, Asia, blog, blogging, China, life, Photography, Travel, travel tales, travelogue

Cross China Road Trip 04: Ningxia Autonomous Region, Zhongwei. Stunning Gao Miao Si Temple

Click here to being a burst of colour to your day

A couple of hours south of Yinchuan is the city of Zhongwei and its amazing Buddhist temple Gao Miao Si. Entering the courtyard any stresses you may have will immediately fall away, replaced instead by calm and wonder at such beauty.

The temple is symmetrical and is layered upwards until a steep set of stone steps lead you high up into the final pavilion.

At ground level the temple reveals a strange secret. During the Cultural Revolution an underground bomb shelter was constructed though was then converted to display the perils that await if you end up going to Hell. Definitely one of the more bizarre things I’ve encountered so far. 

 

 

Filed under: China, Chinese Provinces, Cross China Road Trip, On the Road Tagged: adventure, blog, blogging, China, life, Photography, Travel, travel tales, travelogue

Cross China Road Trip 03: Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Yinchuan. Stress, Stress & the GPS

Yinchuan: A city of two million, it has a distinctly laid back feeling to with wide open boulevards. It is also home to the Hui Muslims after the region separated from Gasnsu in the late 50’s. So after a decent night’s rest I’m having a good wander about taking in the distinct architecture and colours of the city in the late warm autumn sunshine. In the center near the drum tower, Chinese pavilions shaded by vines and hanging plants sit next to a river crisis crossed with bridges. There are plenty of Hui restaurants nearby and the distinctive smell of lamb finds its way under your nostrils wherever you go.

So I suddenly get a message from Mr Li the owner of the jeep jolting me out of my serenity.

“The GPS on the jeep has broken”

As per usual Mr Li is being a man of few words offering zero explanation. I guess he means the GPS tracking system built into the jeep in case of a breakdown in remote areas. I guess as I’m driving solo it s kind of important. After half an hour I receive another message.

“Don’t worry, you can fix it by yourself.”

Great! Nice one one. All afternoon I get very little information and the distinctive feeling of rising stress is grabbing me by the throat big time. Finally a few more helpful words appear on my phone.

“It’s ok. You can find a repair shop. The repair shop master can do it.”

Thanks for that! I mean where is the GPS system? What does it look like?

Finally I have no choice but to unleash my secret weapon I have in reserve; the wife! You don’t mess with my missus and there’s a distinct feeling of satisfaction as I pass on Mr Li’s number to her over the phone. Within five minutes I receive the information I need. The GPS is a card installed under the steering wheel and it should be removed and replaced by a new one from China Mobile. Also as luck would have it, her old school friend Yang Jiang Ning who comes to Yinchuan once every few months is in town and he can help. Arrangements and more arrangements, it’s a busy afternoon sorting it all out though finally we meet in the evening along with his girlfriend Shi Xue Hui. Jiang Ning is a forty year old police man and also a boxer in his spare time, has recently lost most of his front teeth and is visibly in pain. He can’t help me out though Xue Hui is a local, gets on her phone and asks some of her friends.

8.00am and they arrive; He Su Wu, a cool streetwise guy in grey sweater and jeans and his younger mate Li Xiang who likes Justine Bieber. Li Xiang is my first passenger and he guides me through town as we try and keep up with Su Wu as he tears across town. Actually it’s a big relief to be driving though with a slight sense of madness. The Land Cruiser isn’t really one of those vehicles that you would normally drive through a busy city centre after all.

Across the other side of town we get to the garage and I get Mr Li on the line to explain everything to the engineers. Within ten minutes they’ve taken the steering column apart and found the box containing the GPS system and the immortal words “you can do it yourself” spring to mind. Su Wu then drives us to China Mobile and an hour later we return with a new card.

After the work has been done Li Xiang tells me “No charge!” I’m gob-smacked. I mean how often does that happen when you take your motor to the garage. Before I leave I decide to get one week’s encrusted road kill off the windscreen and give the car a good clean. “No charge!” I’m told again and amazingly they take the jeep back inside and give it a good once over including checking the tyre pressure and trying hard to fix that damn annoying passenger side window.

“No charge!”

I leave Yinchuan with mixed emotions. I feel blessed to have met so many kind and helpful people but also saddened that my time here has been so stressful rather than engage in the unique Hui way of life.

Filed under: China, Chinese Provinces, Cross China Road Trip, On the Road Tagged: adventure, Asia, blog, blogging, China, life, Photography, Travel, travel tales, travelogue

Cross China Road Trip 02: Beijing > Hebei > Inner Mongolia: Maximum Freedom & Genghis Khan

Saved by the ger

So after nine and a half hours I make it to my first target Ulansu Lake in Inner Mongolia with just enough time to find somewhere to park up before the sun goes down. Unfortunately it soon becomes apparent that there’s no lake! Well there is but a bare trickle compared to what’s on my map of China. After miles of driving on appalling roads I find the remnants of the lake only accessible via a Windermere-like holiday area for ski jets and the like. It’s just in the throws of closing down at the end of the season and there’s nowhere to leave the jeep. Taking a small dirt road I end up throwing the jeep through sand dunes to find somewhere but all there is is a deserted litter strewn wilderness with a terrifying empty half built mansion which is a definite no go.

Finally I find a clear space and decide to make my stand. It’s getting late and my stomach’s sending out alarm bells. Despite the wind and sand being blown everywhere there’s no choice but to get the stove going. Worse is to come as the entire insect population in the area descends on my torch light including locusts! Unperturbed I battle on, cooking the blandest unsatisfying first camp meal of the trip. Four mouthfuls later though this guy pulls up in his car and chucks me off. No negotiations or nothing. Cheers mate! I mean all it is is a clear area miles away from anywhere with nothing else apart from a few trees. AAAAAAGH!

Throwing my half eaten dinner in the bushes and the camping kit back in the jeep I drive off into the darkness mumbling complaints. Hold on. I remember a get/yurt a few miles away so I head back there, drive down the track to the owners house and bang on his door. Inside the guy’s watching the footy and though a bit shocked at the sight of a Westerner outside in the middle of the night, he lets me stay in his gear for the night. RESULT!

One of the more bizarre places I’ve stayed

Turns out it’s not a ger for sleeping in but somewhere Mongolians would come for a banquet and has a huge circular table for which they would normally destroy a whole goat washed down with no doubt a few gallons of vodka. As per usual it’s brightly decorated with loud Mongolia colours; purples against bright reds and vivid pink against lime green. With a huge sigh of relief I brew up and crash out on the padded seating surrounding the table with.a giant picture of Genghis Khan above me.

Cheers Genghis mate!

The lady of the house herding the goats on her motorbike in the morning

Filed under: China, Cross China Road Trip, On the Road Tagged: adventure, blog, blogging, China, Land Cruiser, life, Mongolia, Photography, Solo travel, travel tales, travelogue