24 Hours

24 Hours
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Ed note: I began this when I was stunned by the physical beauty and social warmth of Xiahe, but unable to take pictures so I wrote impressions. After that I found some ways to charge the battery, so you'll also see the monastery and if time is short, feel free to skip the text.> Pictures paint a thousand words, and many of you have told me you love seeing the pictures but can't find the time to read my text...which I know can be verbose. So I dearly wish I could offer more pictures of where I am as I draft this note (for posting later, after I get home...). HOWEVER, my camera battery is dead and the recharger is back in Nannning while I myself am at 9,000 feet in the mountains of southern Gansu Province, next door to the largest Tibetan monastery and temple outside Tibet in the world. And the 24 hours that brought me here from Ningxia were among the most interesting and lovely I've had here in China, so I'll tell the story in words: I figure at least my Mom will read this (not that I'll ever know, since she's forgotten how to write letters and refuses to learn how to write e-mails....but I love you anyway, Mom) and maybe my brothers and sister in law. Thank goodness for family, huh? :-) It all started in Zhongwei, a town on the west-central edge of the tiny Ningxia Hui (Muslim) Autonomous Region, in north-central China. Zhongwei is that rarity, a small Chinese city that's fairly laid back and rather pretty: so many cities are loud, crowded, hectic and overwhelming. It's situated where the Tengger Desert of western Inner Mongolia comes up against the Yellow River: rolling red sand dunes like a movie set of the Arabian or Sahara desert, bumping against the irrigated green fields of corn and wheat in hues from green to gold. Desert and the Yellow River, two central defining geographic facts that underlie 6,000 or more years of Chinese history, and I'd spent two days at a tiny family-owned hostel set amongst the orchards, vineyards and vegetable fields the family cultivate to feed their guests and sell to the markets. (There are pictures of that, so we'll fast forward.) I've left the bend in the river 7 miles and outside town where I've stayed for two days, and at 8:00 on Tuesday night I'm now back in Zhongwei, at the small park outside the train station where there are benches to set my pack down and enjoy the lovely early-evening weather, watch the sunset and enjoy the parade of people out enjoying the last sunshine. I've got a few more hours to pass, well into the dark and cold of night, before I can board my overnight bus for Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province just south, from where I plan to launch myself via the 7:30 bus on the 6-hour drive up into the mountains to Xiahe, home of Labrang Monastery. I see, across the little canal that outlines the southern edge of this park, a group of -- wonders never cease, since I've seen none (not even myself, there being no mirrors -- or showers -- where I've been staying) for four days now -- Caucasians. Six of them, of whom three are wearing the same black felt cap that one sees in pictures of Mongolians: dead give away this is a tourist group that's recently been in Inner Mongolia. After a few minutes I decide I'll stroll over the bridge that'll take me past the tables where they're sitting with their bottles of beer, just to see if they're friendly and interesting. Which they are. Five are recent graduates of the French Arts-et-Metiers program (high level national technical and graphic arts training, if I understand) and/or friends of said; one's an incoming Dartmouth senior who met the other five just that afternoon. We drink, we talk...we are joined by an oldish, rather toothless man who's delighted to use my translating service (and Taylor's, who's got a year of Dartmouth Chinese behind him and has evidently put it to good use in his six weeks in China since he does awfully well!) to find out more about all of us and to tell about his work in the switching yards of the train station, just next door. He's from Shandong, and hopes to visit France some day: many questions about airfares, costs of living in France...I'm sorry to have to tell him that, the Euro being what it is, France is brutal right now and the US is a much better bargain. But we all agree to let him keep his dreams alive, and agree he simply must visit us if he comes to either France or the US. Having expected, at best, to spend three hours in an internet cafe and at worst to spend it cold and at loose ends sitting by the drum tower from which the bus departs, I feel I've been guided by an angel - to meet an interesting group and (always a pleasure) use some of my language skills to help folks learn a bit about each other. Thus occupied, the time flies by and I get to my bus with just about 15 minutes to spare, settle into the drivers-side front upper bunk on that classic Chinese mode of transport, the bus with three rows of bunk beds down the length for long distance travel. To paraphrase Tommy, "put in your earplugs, put on your eyeshades, you know where to put the sleeping pill..." Out like a light, only worries being: 1) will this prevent me from staying awake and alert from the 4:30 arrival in Lanzhou through the 7:30 departure for Xiahe, and 2) have I eaten or drunk anything that will necessitate significant use of the frankly horrifying comfort stations (hah!) to which one has access while on China's highways and byways. Fortune is guiding my steps because all is well and the bus is kind enough, on reaching Lanzhou, to just park and let us keep sleeping -- so I get nearly a full eight hours, then hop a cab across this long thin provincial capital to the entire other side of town where buses depart for points south. Onto the bus: 1/3 euro tourists -- seems I've made it back on the more beaten path, now...about which my ornery self has mixed feelings I'm ashamed to admit -- and the rest that tapestry of folks that make up this northwest/central section of China: Hui Muslims in their white truncated fez-type caps (for men) or headscarves (often gorgeous fabrics) for women, and all, men and women alike, dressed rather somberly...a few Tibetans apparently on visit or pilgrimage up the mountain to Xiahe: long multi-strand braids down the backs of the women, prayer beads in the hands of the men, big rimmed caps on the heads of both...small town villagers or independent business men traveling to various town along the way, or women with bags of produce to sell in the markets, and of course many children peeking curious around the arms of their mothers to get a glimpse of what I'm reading (Ha-Li Po-De Yu Mo-Fa Shi...Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone...actually, let me say: trying to read, since in four months I've made it to page four). The ride is endlessly fascinating. Though Ningxia was created (in the late 1950s) as an autonomous region specifically for the Hui Muslim ethnic minority (one of several Islamic minorities in China, including the Uighur as well as Tajiks and Uzbeks I believe), only about 20% of them live in Ningxia itself. From what I can see looking out the bus windows, it certainly seems far more live in this southern section of Gansu: every town we pass through on this Wednesday morning is thronged with Hui in their distinctive headgear, buying parts of the lamb carcasses hung up by butchers by the side of the road; or purchasing the fruits and vegetables in colorful piles on the sidewalk. (Does anyone know if the week that included August 17 is an important Muslim festival week: the number of lambs being skinned and sold, the number of people going to market in the morning suggested either this was market day, or it's a festival week.) And the mosques: I saw far more of them in four hours on this bus, than in seven hours on the train through Ningxia when I came up from Shaanxi to Zhongwei a few days earlier. This is where I regret the dead battery: I am eager to show you picture of minarets and mosques that blend the star and crescent, the domes and towers that I associate with Islam, with the ornate wood and tile carvings, the upturned corners and intricate painting that I associate with Chinese places of worship and important buildings. These minarets and mosques, often a truly beautiful blending of classical Chinese and Islamic aesthetics, are everywhere in the valleys and towns we pass through. Naturally, one third of the way up, the bus breaks down -- bad. I'm in a "go with the flow" mood, having allowed the river to carry me rather wonderfully thus far on the trip, so I figure I'll enjoy the scenery (beautiful valleys and mountains) and see what happens next. Nearly two hours later, after a few bee stings from the truck loaded with honeycombs that lumbered by leaving dust and angry bees in its wake...having watched many of the other Euro tourists thumb down (and probably pay for) private rides up the mountain in other cars...I begin to wonder whether a more active, directive attitude might have served me well. So I start flagging down cars, seeing as how the promised replacement bus has not yet appeared. Second van that passes has exactly five seats free, and I've been making friends with a Franco-Spanish group of four whom I'm reluctant to leave. The driver and his friend are escorting two friends from Beijing up the monastery for the weekend. They've both studied at the monastery though they're not monks...and after depositing us at the hotel we intended to go to, where they are also staying, they invite us to join them for the afternoon's activities. In the photo attached here -- the only one taken before the battery died the first time -- you see me and one of these guys, along with his teacher at the monastery. After we visited his teacher and were graciously greeted, we all headed up the beautiful grasslands higher up the valley where people pasture their yaks and sheep in the summer. They treated us to yak-butter tea (no, it wasn't as yucky as I'd feared, though clearly a new taste sensation that will not grab America by storm any day soon) and steamed buns, and roast lamb for the carnivores among us. Then on down that valley, and up and over another valley to a very high mountain lake that is sacred to Tibetans, where we circumnambulated the lake in the chilly dusk air while marveling at our amazing good fortune: such gracious and warm people, who flat out refused to take any money for gas, or food, or drink, and showed such pleasure in hosting five foreigners whom they'd never met before. I sincerely hope they use the e-mail address I gave them, since I'd love to keep in touch with him...even if it means I have to learn how to type in Chinese -- not a skill I've learned yet. So - with that, here come the actual photos of Labrang and Xiahe, Zhongwei, and Kongton, the Daoist Mtn I visited at the beginning. Sorry if that was boring.

Hotel Room Ceiling :)

Hotel Room Ceiling :)
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Lame, but it gives you some idea: I could plug my camera into the

charger for my mp3 player -- not to charge the battery, god forbid,

but it did run on direct current that way. So I took a picture of the

ceiling in my room...just since it was pretty and I wanted to

comemorate how lovely and inexpensive it was, and how much the Tibetan

aesthetic seems to be about putting color and beauty everywhere they

possibly can.

In Xiahe

In Xiahe
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

If you wore out on the long intro to this whole section on my

vacation, then you missed my waxing poetic about the friendliness and

warmth of the people (especially the Tibetans, who are 50% of the

town's population) in Xiahe. This guy and I met while he was

accompanying his younger brother to the bus station, and he decided to

say "hello" to me -- this is a common experience in China. What's not

common is to then chat a bit and find oneself instantly invited to his

home to meet his mom and sister and brothers and be fed tea and

steamed buns and generally proceed to spend the day exploring the

town. What fun!

This is Labrang Monastery

This is Labrang Monastery
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Panorama w/Prayer Cubicles

Panorama w/Prayer Cubicles
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Before we get into all the detailed shots of the buildings and

surroundings, and shots my new friend and I took of each other, I want

to give a few more panoramas of the monastery. If you look closely in

this one, you'll see little white dots or small white huts on the

mountain behind the big buildings with golden roofs. Dao tells me

that, at a certain time each year, certain religious folk (not sure if

this is monks, students, teachers, what) retire to these cubicles for

some period of time to pray and – I guess? – fast. Keep in mind that

our conversation happened entirely in Mandarin, which he describes as

his third language (after Tibetan and Southern Gansu dialect), and is

my fourth…so though we communicated, the nuance may not have been

conveyed quite right all the time. J

Views of Labrang

Views of Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

This is the monastery seen from partway up the hills on the front side

– opposite this shot – and if you look closely, you'll see a group of

Tibetan woman picnicking on the grass. Lots of people (though

surprisingly few of the foreigners) wander up into the hills for a

better view of the monastery compound. Maybe the foreigners' schedules

are simply too pressed for time…such a pity, in this place!



After this you will see a ton of shots of various aspects of the

temple. Notice the prayer wheels in the background of some of them.

You'll see me and/or Dao standing beside prayer wheels, or the how

structures that house them in the background while we're standing in

the wheat fields. These are part of a very long pilgrim's trail that

runs around the whole temple and includes many more than a thousand

prayer wheels, all of which are turned by pilgrims truly following

this path. (Once you start turning them, it's bad luck or something

like that to stop without turning them all, so I never started: just

took photos!) The wheat fields are shared by the townspeople, who work

them together pretty much (he told me his brother worked them since

he's still in school). The pilgrim's trail, and the town in general,

is a whole other world…just picture seeing hundreds of people

streaming through the path and turning the wheel, nonstop all day,

many of whom are true pilgrims, who take two steps then prostrate

themselves, all the way up the valley and all the way around the path.

Quite amazing, really.

Views of Labrang

Views of Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Views of Labrang

Views of Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

At Labrang

At Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

This is the central alley through the middle of the complex. I say

alley but of course it functions as a road, with cars and trucks

delivering things. 2,700 people live in the complex – students,

teachers, people working and worshiping in their ways. It's quite

fascinating, and with a very different feel from what Christians think

of as a monastery – much more alive and lively, and full of people and

kids and monks young and old. Following are a few shots of some of the

bigger more beautiful buildings.

Labrang Buildings

Labrang Buildings
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Labrang Buildings

Labrang Buildings
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Labrang Buildings

Labrang Buildings
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Labrang Buildings

Labrang Buildings
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Labrang Panorama

Labrang Panorama
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

This shows the (new -- remember how friendly I said Tibetans are!)

friend I spent most of my second day with, on the mountain behind the

monastery at sunset. We'd already completed the full circuit of the

"pilgrim's trail" all around the complex, and I wanted to get into the

hills above and do some hiking and watch the sunset and see the

complex from other angles. In the next sets of shots you'll see

pilgrims on the dusty trail behind the temple, where the buildings

come too close to the mountain face to permit more prayer wheels to be

placed there, and many other shots he or I took as we wandered around

all afternoon and early evening.

Views of Labrang

Views of Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Views of Labrang

Views of Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Views of Labrang

Views of Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Views of Labrang

Views of Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Views of Labrang

Views of Labrang
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Labrang, Mountain Valley

Labrang, Mountain Valley
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

I wanted to end my essay on Labrang with this shot. It's unusual, but

I'm proud of it. Enjoy.

Xiahe Mosque

Xiahe Mosque
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

In that big long monologue I subjected you to at the beginning of this

piece, I mentioned all the mosques. As I noted then , I did manage the

get just enough juice into my batteries to take a few photos in Xiahe

and of Labrang. This is the Xiahe Mosque – the only workable shot I

have, from all the lovely Mosques I saw throughout the regions I

traveled in. Note both Arabic and Chinese writing on the front, and

the crescent at the top of a very Chinese styled minaret.

Shapotou Dunes & Mountains

Shapotou Dunes & Mountains
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Essentially, what was Shapotou desert research center – founded to

figure out how to prevent the desert from its continued growth into

previously productive regions – has grown with the addition of what

amounts to a desert amusement park. You can rent slides and slide down

the dunes (reminding me of riding the dunes at White Sands outside

Alamogordo with my nephew and niece), you can hook yourself into a

harness and fly down a high wire from the top of the dunes to a

platform across the river, and so on. Or you can ride these rafts,

that attach a wooden infrastructure to sheepskins. And when I say

sheepskin, I mean it literally: these wooden platforms are lashed on

top of what look nine dead, hairless sheep. Rather an odd feeling, but

yes – never one to shy away from new experiences, I can now say that

I've both ridden the high wire high above the Yellow River, and rafted

on dead sheepskins down it. And, as you'll see, ridden horses through

its dunes with some friends from my guesthouse.

Shapotou Dunes & Mountains

Shapotou Dunes & Mountains
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Shapotou Vineyard & Mountains at Dusk

Shapotou Vineyard & Mountains at Dusk
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

At Shapotou

At Shapotou
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

At Shapotou

At Shapotou
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

At Shapotou

At Shapotou
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

At Shapotou

At Shapotou
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

At Shapotou

At Shapotou
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

At Shapotou

At Shapotou
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

By the Yellow River

By the Yellow River
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

This is an irrigation canal, hooked up further upstream to a pump that

may or may not still work to bring water directly from the river up

the this level, about 100 feet above river level or so. After this

you'll see two shots that show the contrast: a downright Disney-esque

castle that serves no function I could see: it was empty. In the

foreground there you will see some agricultural workers walking the

road in front of it, but the castle itself appeared utterly empty.

I've a feeling it was built in anticipation of a glut of tourism that

has yet to fully materialize here. You'll also see some weeds piled

next the bicycle their picker rode to work and will load them onto for

the return home. As you'll see in later shots taken from the train,

and you may have seen in other shots from Guangxi, the vast majority

of farm work here in China is still done individually or by families,

by hand.

By the Yellow River

By the Yellow River
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

By the Yellow River

By the Yellow River
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Tongjia Guesthouse

Tongjia Guesthouse
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

What I love about this sign is how it shows pheasants and grouse or

some kind of bird that I just don't imagine really hangs out here on

the edge of the desert, but the proprietors were clearly going for a

farm and country feel. Indeed this is a lovely little guesthouse

(don't get excited and think spa in the desert – I won't go into the

sanitary details, but assume Chinese small town standard) with

orchards and gardens from which they make their food, and where guests

are welcome to pick grapes or apples for snacking. The Yurt in the

next shot is also theirs – something new this season, that they say

has been very popular for visitors.

Tongjia Guesthouse

Tongjia Guesthouse
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

What I love about this sign is how it shows pheasants and grouse or

some kind of bird that I just don't imagine really hangs out here on

the edge of the desert, but the proprietors were clearly going for a

farm and country feel. Indeed this is a lovely little guesthouse

(don't get excited and think spa in the desert – I won't go into the

sanitary details, but assume Chinese small town standard) with

orchards and gardens from which they make their food, and where guests

are welcome to pick grapes or apples for snacking. The Yurt in the

next shot is also theirs – something new this season, that they say

has been very popular for visitors.

Water Wheels, Yellow River & Red Dunes

Water Wheels, Yellow River & Red Dunes
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Yellow River Sandbar & Clouds

Yellow River Sandbar & Clouds
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Landscape from the Train

Landscape from the Train
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

The train ride from Kongtong Shan into Ningxia was lovely – small

agricultural valleys and enough railway tunnels going through the

mountains I lost count. A few times I grabbed my camera to capture a

passing landscape that struck me. Also, after the two kids one seat

over kept peeking over the top of their seat to see what I was doing,

I decided to start engaging them…first by taking their picture, then

by letting them take my picture, pictures of each other and/or of me

with them. I'm giving you a few of these. They're classmates and had

just been happy to see each other on the train. By the way, don't

think this is a typical hard seat train: it was morning, and the train

filled up very fast so that the last five hours or so were spent quite

crowded, with folks in the aisles.



Then you'll see shots of the southern Ningxia agricultural landscape

as seen from the train. Lovely, sparsely populated, towns built into

dry hillsides, and so on.

The Fields of Ningxia

The Fields of Ningxia
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

The Fields of Ningxia

The Fields of Ningxia
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

The Fields of Ningxia

The Fields of Ningxia
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

The Fields of Ningxia

The Fields of Ningxia
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

The Fields of Ningxia

The Fields of Ningxia
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Who You Lookin At?

Who You Lookin At?
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Kids Young & Old On the Train

Kids Young & Old On the Train
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Kids Young & Old On the Train

Kids Young & Old On the Train
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Kids Young & Old On the Train

Kids Young & Old On the Train
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Kongtong Shan

Kongtong Shan
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Kongtong Shan: sacred Daoist mountain in southeastern Gansu province.

More or less the middle of nowhere, socio-economically speaking, but

some lovely surroundings. The nearest town is depressingly pre-1991

Soviet zone as concerns architecture and air pollution, but mercifully

the people are that delightful contemporary Chinese mix of open and

curious and nosy and fun and many other things mixed in.



Having already climbed more than a thousand steps (I stopped counting

and the steps kept going for a VERY long time), I took a moment to

capture this temple, seemingly lost in the clouds high above me. In

the next set of shots after this, you'll see both this temple from

closer up (pay attention to the foot bridge at the bottom of the shot,

which perilously spans a terrifyingly steep and deep gorge), and a

view of the path itself as seen from above – look for the white line

winding through the trees.

Temples & Mountains

Temples & Mountains
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.

Temples & Mountains

Temples & Mountains
Originally uploaded by paulbrockmann.