China Checkers, Taxi drivers and Shanghai Surprise !
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Ok.... so I spent some time in the Middle Country. And yes, it IS a big deal. Especially when you are Indian and a veggie. Especially when you don't speak the language. Especially when its a new job.
But the time I spent there exploring the country to the extent which I could, meeting people, seeing things, eating (or atleast trying to) stuff, understanding the culture and getting by through it all
During my first few days in Shanghai, I had to rely on the taxi service which by Indian standards are good and comfortable except for the omnipresent stench of cigarette smoke inside the cabin. Communicating with them was a blast and everytime I stepped inside a cab was a memorable occasion.
For starters, ninety nine percent of Shanghai cabbies know absolutely zero English. A few of them may know 'Good Morning', 'hello' and other perfunctory greetings, but that was the limit of their skills. The only way I could tell them where I wanted to go was by showing them a piece of paper with my destination printed in Chinese characters. Once presented to the driver, here is what would typically occur ;
- Driver holds up the paper upside down, prompting me to orient it in the proper direction for him
- He squints at the printing, making me think that I had printed it too small. Following this he reaches for his glasses to read it properly.
- Once done, he repeats the street name like he is chanting an invocation to the Goddess of taxi drivers
- He then reaches into the space near the sun visor and pulls out a much used and abused map of the city to locate the street.
- Once done, he shoots a barrage of questions at me and when it is obvious to him that I don't understand a word, he repeats each word slowly and clearly like its supposed to be easier on me.
- Completely frustrated, he mutters to himself, gives me a nasty look in the rear view mirror and sets off.
I also learned that Shanghainese cabbies understand Tamil Malayalam and Kannada.... my exhortations in English yielded no effect other than a confused look him. However, they do understand Neanderthal grunts and gesticulations and once I started saying " Dae patti....inge niruthu", with a smile on my face and waving my hands around, things became very clear and much easier for driver and passenger!
As the months passed by and my Mandarin became a little bit better, the reactions from the drivers was different. They always wanted to know where we ( me and missus) were from. "Nimen shi shenme guo ren" (Which country are you from). When we said India, they would spontaneously break into a song which I thought was vaguely familiar. It went something like "Aawalagoo too dooo dooo" and ended up being " Awaara Hoon"! It turns out that movies from the 50's and 60's were quite popular as they depicted wholesome qualities of hard work, community and family which was popular with the Chinese polity of the 70s and 80s.
While I never drove in Shanghai, I had a sense of being at home, given the way cars would aggressively pass one another, take risks and spit on the streets. Pedestrians would cross at all places, cabbies would honk, overall, it felt very familiar, yet vague.
Trampled byY Trip at 11:34 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: China, Shanghai, travel
Part 9. Exhaustion, Exhilaration, Contentment
Saturday, June 20, 2009
My memory of the next few days on the trek consists of a mix of breathless climbs up endless inclines, beautiful vistas and deftly avoiding mule/donkey dung. I'll try my best to recount the rest of the trip as concisely as possible, since I too wish to just get done with this series of postings and hopefully write about the other trips that I have done.
Day Two with a surprise. After some searching and climbing , I find my own personal space behind a rock and begin to commune with nature. Just as the discourse began, I realized that I had parked myself behind a bush adjacent to a path frequented by goats and shepherds. I hastily try to finish my business, only to be surprised by the bleating of some lamb peering at me through the bush it was trying to eat. Once the shock wore off, I looked around to find a shepherd staring at me in surprise. What can I do now.. the only thing that comes to my mind is to say "Juley" and I blurt it out like a fool and to my relief scares off the shepherd and his flock !! I chose to keep this incident under wraps for a while now, but hey.. the truth is out now :)
Once I got back to the camp site we set out towards Kongski La. The rest of the day's trip took us through fields of lavender and mustard which made for many photo opps. I vaguely remembering trudging through really pretty scenery, but being absolutely tired through the whole trip. Every step I took became tougher as my feet got heavier with every incline. So many times, I felt like I just wanted to get into foetal position and die. But my friends refused to give up... I think they bribed me with candy, although I cannot be too sure of that.
The rest of the day, just went by in a blur and one fantastic view after the other came by, but ofcourse, I was quite tired to notice most of it. I took time out to click pictures, eat some sugar candy, drink glucose water and slather on some sunscreen.
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
The trek on the third day took us through a small forested area with a bubbling brook which we used to fill our bottles every now and then. While the water was not clear and was a little cloudy, it was refreshingly cool and very very refreshing.
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
The end of the day's trek through a slight drizzle brought us to camp by the a stream that was clear and fast flowing. After the mandatory rounds of frisbee and endless games of cards by torch light, we started dinner and that's when it all started coming down. The pitter patter of the raindrops turned out to be quite a torrent with hail stones pelting us as we rushed in to our tents with whatever little protection we had.
The next morning, the stream had turned chocolate brown with sediment from the higher reaches and the tops of the mountains around us had a light dusting of snow!
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
Day 4 was all down hill initially and this was the best part of the trek for me. I was in good spirits and some tchang helped a lot. I was quite ahead of the rest of the group and had made really good progress. I felt a lot like Captain Haddock did as he was marching ahead of the rest of the group, until I had to cross a shallow stream and promptly fell in while attempting to !
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
My enthusiasm soon waned as the post lunch trek winded up hill once again. Along the way we saw heards of dzo, a cross between yaks and domesticated cows. The irony did not escape me, while they placid chewed the cud or did whatever it is that dzos do, I was huffing and puffing up hill, barely able to place one foot in front of the other and I once again resumed my rightful place at the end of the line. After a tough uphill climb where the
mules once again overtook us enroute to the next campsite, we arrived at Dung Dung Chan La for our last day in the tents.
Final day - The excitement of being the last day trek really pumped us up and the thought of getting to a clean bathroom and wearing fresh clothes was quite motivating.
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
For what seemed like hours and hours of a never ending descent through absolutely inhospitable terrain, we slid down gravelly slops, scraped knees and elbows, crossed dangerous chasm and walked tenuously on pathway 10 inches wide and rapelled down a cliff face ( OK.. I made that last one up) we finally came for a lunch stop where I just crashed and slept on the ground in the shade of some trees. At this point, we imagined that it was almost over and our transportation back to Leh is just around the corner.
But ofcourse, it was far from over we still had a few more kilometers to go and all along a stream filled with boulders. This was by far quite strenuous, especially for Prashant since he had shoe bites which gave a pretty rough time. To add to the discomfort, we could not see the rest of the group and had no idea how far we had to go. The flora by this time had changed and we had come below the tree-line. We could see wild brushes, something that looked like apricots, junipers and more.
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
Soon we heard whoops of joy from the rest of the group as they reached Chilling where Hamy and Soumya where waiting for us ( They left the group on day 2 or 3 and headed to Leh). The raw apricots on the trees didnt last long as Suchi, Rajesh and Prashant kept throwing stones to knock them down. I wonder if they had stomach upsets later.. the apricots seemed rather raw.
The jeep ride back to Leh was a haze as we all slept and woke up only once we reached the hotel. After a warm shower and hot meal and a quick nap, we were ready to take on Leh by night. This was the end of a great trek, probably the best I've ever done.
The trip was not quite over though, the next morning we went back to Chilling for a river rafting trip on the Zanskar. After donning protective clothing and helmets, we were given a quick primer on how to steer the raft. Nothing however, could prepare for the cold water that hit us the raft splashed around in the rapids. Although the trip was short, it was quite tiring and we were really really hungry by the end of it. The next morning, I left for Bangalore via Delhi and was home again.
This trip left indelible impressions on me and even now, two years later, I can still feel the ground under my feet, the cold water of the streams, the wind in the trees and can see the stars over Leh. I will cherish this trip forever and hope that this will be the first of many trips.
Trampled byY Trip at 1:47 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Part 8. The First day
Saturday, March 28, 2009
We broke camp really early, budled up our sleeping bags , changed inside the tent and packed our ruck sacks. The arrangement we had was quite convenient to novice trekkers suck as ourselves : Our ruck sacks, sleepingbags, tents, vessels and equipment would be carried by mules/donkeys from one campsite to another. The support staff will clear the campsite, fold the tents, pack the equipment and put them all on the mules to the next campsite. Often, they would leave long after we left and would pass us on the trail around lunch time. It was amazing to see how fit and untiring they were! Without them, it would have been quite impossible for us city slickers to make it from one site to another with all that heavy equipment. This arrangement enabled us to carry only a small backpack filled with essentials like a couple of bottle of waters, our lunch boxes and anything else we wanted to carry on the actual trek
After a hearty breakfast and walk along a stream which was running low. We constantly crossed and re crossed the stream. Very often, the stream was too wide for us to jump across and the guides helped place large stones in the middle of the stream which we used as stepping stones.
Spirits were generally high and we trudged up the mountain to reach Pringti-La. Given the level of fitness I was in, I was the last one to reach the top after much huffing and puffing. Each step seemed tougher than the previous one and my lungs were simply screaming out for attention and I was almost always at the end of the line going up. Prashant and Vivek constantly goaded me up kept my now flagging spirits up. Terbej, one of the guides made sure that the tail end of the convoy, namely me, made it in one piece
Terbej, Karthik, Vivek & SumanthReaching the peak was a momentous occassion and an overwhelming feeling of achieving something took over me. The adrenaline rush was exhilarating as I crawled up the last few meters to the top to see the whole group lying down and recouping for the journey downhill. In unision, we raised our voices to proclaim " Khi Khi So So Lar Gya La" to proclaim our success crossing our first Himalayan pass. At every pass, one can see a little pile of rocks and prayer flags
Lacchi at a pass... note the prayer flags
(Pic Courtesy Lachhii)Once we crossed Wanla, we came on to a tar road ( better than the ones in Bangalore) which proved to be the last motorable road we'd see until the end of the trek. We walked all along a river with a very unique irrigation method. Channels are carved out at river level and slope gently downwards, but not at the same gradient as the river. Gravity pushes down water down the irrigation ditches and waters terraced fields on the barren mountain side. It is really wonderful to see innovation among people who do not have access to basic facilities, driven largely by the terrain. Necessity, truly is the mother of invention
(Click view larger image)
The world's hardest trek routeyikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A couple of hours of walk over the road brought us to another rest stop, where we had a few snacks and some well deserved rest. The walk on the tar surface was quite tiring and we covered about 8-10 kilometers which was quite hard on the knees.
We rested at a campsite along a , in a grove of trees. The camp site was spartan at best, with a single shack housing the watchman and his family. When we arrived a hose was connected to a tap where we washed up and opened our tiffin boxes and ate what we could. The food went down pretty hard and I personally relished the chocolate bar more than any thing. Through the trip, chocolate bars were the primary source of energy for me.
After lunch, Vivek, Prashant and I scouted around and found steps that led down to the river. We washed up, snoozed a bit, and dipped our tired feet in the icy water. Almost instantly, the tiredness and the soreness vanished. Now, I could truly relate to Messrs. Waters and Gilmour when they were describing being comfortably numb.
Sonam.. our lead guideWe were abruptly woken up from this reverie when one of the others called us up for a 'team meeting'. I sensed something was wrong when people were huddled together talking in hushed tones. There were some concerns as to how the trek was going on and it seemed as if there was an in what what people expected to see en route. As the discussion progressed, I was dismayed to see the group getting fractured so early on! I guess it was the good old group dynamics of "forming-storming-norming-performing" at work. There were some who insisted that we turn back, go to Leh and go on an alternate route at the same cost as what had already been incurred.
I guess people expected alpine scenery and a much gentler walk in the park. Trekking in Ladakh is not easy and demands will power over sheer strength. It takes a lot to plod ahead, putting one step in front of the other, expecting the end of the trail to be just 'beyond the bend'. More often than not, coming around the bend shows just how far you have to go and how little you actually have travelled!
I had spent too much time,money and energy in getting to this point and I was not going to let this split in the group spoil my holiday! luckily, a few others felt the same as I did and Lacchi gave the group time till that evening to decide if the trip should continue.
The incident left a sour taste in the mouth, but I was determined not to let it spoil what was to be one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life. We walked on and a few kilometers down the road, we reached the campsite at Phanji-La where the porters had reached ahead of us and had begun to set up camp. Once we washed up and had coffee and snacks ( we truly were a pampered lot). We brought out the frisbee and started tossing it around, taking care not to throw it into the portable potty! Somewhere in the background, a goat decided to take matters into its own hands (horns) and enter the tents. we quickly shooed it away and continued with our game.
When it became too dark to play, we retreated into the main tent where we played cards by kerosene lamps, candles and torches. Cards, dumb charades, antakshari and general gossip was the only evening past time that we had for the next few days and I for one, did not miss TV one bit !
The cooks made dinner for us and I as much as I could possibly shove down. The bad food did not account for the lack of appetite... it felt as if I hadn't completely acclimatized yet and altitude sickness had some lingering effects. Also somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that input = output and any intake of food would mean subsequent output and usage of mountain money. Over the next few days, I learned how to be a very very efficient machine, burning up almost all the food during the hike.
The post dinner session brought back the issue of continuing from thereon and a poll was taken as to who wanted to continue and who didn't. I have never understood the idea behind all the scheming, back biting and deal making in reality shows like Survivor and Amazing Race, but this one instance when people were making cases for themselves and means to seek the ends they wanted was fun and quite an eye opener! I stuck to my guns that the I wanted to continue with the trip and we had enough of a quorum to go ahead with the trek, with the option that who ever wanted to opt out, could turn back and head to Leh, but no refund will be made for having hired the guides, porters and equipment for 6 days. Faced with having to dish out extra money (journey to leh +extra days in hotel+food) , the people who wanted to change plans, decided to go ahead with the trip.
To clear my head and put all this nonsense behind me, I took a walk with Prashant and Vivek along the road. The deafening silence was only broken by the rush of the river in the gorge below. By the dim starlight, you could see the sparse patches of vegetation dark offset against the light brown/khaki background of the mountain side.
That night, we made the decision to sleep under the stars and we arranged for a ground cloth to be laid out and we pulled out the sleeping bags. I must have spent hours just gazing at sky, but after a while, I had to retreat under the tent. I do not remember if it was because it was cold, becasue of bugs or if it started drizzling. The fact was I went back in, and now I wish I had spent the whole night outside! I put up with the snoring in the tents around us and slept blissfully till dawn, awaiting the rest of our journey.
Trampled byY Trip at 5:46 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Part 7. The Road to the Long March
The morning ride took us through mountain side beautiful not despite its barrenness, but because of it. The various hues of greys ,browns, blacks and even purples made up the dramatic scenery all around us. A couple of hours out, we came upon the confluence of the Indus and the Zanskar close to Nimoo. The difference in colours was really apparent as the Zanskar brought down a lot silt and mud as it cut its way through deep gorges on its way down stream.
Far down by riverside a film crew had set up camp and we made our guesses as to who the actors were down there throwing tantrums. After a few photo opps we decided to move on and face the rest of the trip. We descended to Numi(?) where we picked up a few bottles of overpriced mineral water of dubious origins. Water was a concern as everyone of us were pampered city brats who drank bottled water. We had made extensive plans to conserve water through the trip, drinking when necessary and being willing to pay Rs. 25-50 for a 10 rupee bottle. But, as we were to discover in due course, bottled water was not at all necessary right through the trek.
After a quick lunch (yucky dal chaawal )at a roadside stop under some shade, we proceeded to Alchi gompa (monastery) set besides the Indus and a beautiful apricot orchard which was just beginning to ripen. Although there were plenty of other tourists, the setting was really peaceful and I could have spent the rest of the day lying down on a rock under the shade and listening to the river run below us
We set off for Lamayuru and arrived at our campsite to see that the tent had been set up and we enjoyed a hearty snack, followed by rounds of frisbee and a quick hike to the Gompa at Lamayuru
(Pic Courtesy Lacchi)
We snuggled in to the tents after dinner, where the cook managed to whip up some cake and roti and fruits. We walked around along the road near the campsite as we pondered what lies ahead. We stopped by at a shop to listen to the shopkeepers radio for the latest news.
At that moment, then and there, time did not matter.. news did not matter. No one cared for performance reviews or managers or deadlines. No body bothered about work. We were among simple people who lived their simple ways and for a brief period of time, we attempted to be simple folk.
The next morning, we woke up early to get to the outhouse to attend to call of nature. Now, you might wonder where did this come from.... the porters who came along with us dug a hole in the ground and erected a small tent around it to provide for privacy. As can be imagined, if 15 people use the hole, it fills up pretty fast and becomes really really yucky... I learned my lesson and vowed to find my own corner of the world and do my business.
Trampled byY Trip at 3:27 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Part 6. The land of High Passes
Sunday, September 7, 2008
A good night's rest followed our arduous journey and we decided to do our rounds of the city of Leh. Tibetan cultural icons surrounded us and it was like a different country altogether. like most tourst places, Leh's economy is entirely on the short tourist season from late May to early September. During the rest of the year, it is too uncomfortable for touristy activities cut off from the rest of the world by road. During this time, the only access the town has is the tiny airport which is smaller than the Shivajinagar bus stop in Bangalore.
Leh in peak season, takes on a cosmopolitan hue with tourists and backpackers from all around the world thronging the narrow streets and filling up the market place and hiking up prices for the rest of us. The Great Indian Family Holiday was quite conspicuous by its absence and it looked like we were one of the few Indians who dared to venture into this corner of our country.
The shops were filled with Ladakhi and Tibetan handicrafts, woolens, knitwear, used books (I guess lots of people dispose of their books), more German bakeries, parantha places, exorbitantly priced sweet tea and some more handicraft stores.
Lacchi decides that we've had enough fun and takes us on an acclimatisation walk up to the Leh Palace, built in the 1600s and to this day, dominates the old city. Its an old mud structure and benevolently looks down upon the city. We trudge through small bylanes of the old city and through the doors, little eyes peeked out. The overall feeling was that we had walked back in time and were back in the 17th century.
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
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| From Leh and the great Trek |
One can only marvel at the mud structure that has lasted through the centuries. As I walked through the rooms and saw the straw roofs that sheltered Ladakhi kings over the years, I couldn't help but wonder at how they managed to build a city in such a desolate and extreme environment. The cool interiors of the palace gave us some much needed respite form the scorching sun and the fact that we didn't can carry enough water for this trip didn't help one bit. The extensive rooms were slightly dilapidated with stairs crumbling beneath our feet and
overhead beams threatened to crash down upon us. Walking through the musty smelling corridors brought us to a room that was being renovated by Kashmiri artisans who said that they came from Srinagar and had just a few weeks left before they went back before it gets cold.
Once we trudged back down to the city, we ate lunch at at vegetarian Tibetan restaurant which had "Free Tibet" flags all over. The food was filling and we went on our way to explore the market place and make phone calls. I go around a bit and see this guy who looked like he was a southie.
Very tenuously, I ask him "ഇവടെ വല്ലേ Phone booth ഉണ്ടോ ?" ( Are there any phone booths here.. in Malayalam ...excuse my spellings..) And to my surprise he responds in the affirmative in Malayalam and points me down the road and says that its right next to the Kerala Ayurveda Center, which happens to be owned by his brother. I get talking to him and he tells me that he and his cronies come to Leh every year for 5 months to run the ayurveda center giving the traditional ayurveda massages to tired trekkers then get back to Kerala and run a beach resort near Trivandrum from November to February.
This reminded me of the Garhwali owner of the restaurant in Varkala (in Kerala) beach who heads to Haridwar in the summer running a lodge and to Kerala in the winter running the restaurant. Two towns, both highly dependent on a floating population for its income, migrant population for its work force and whose economy rests solely on 4-5 months of hectic activity by back packers, wannabe hippies and the like. Two towns seperated by more than 4000km, but having the same reason for existence - Being the playground for the rich, the vagrant, the wanderer and the wonderer.
The evening saw us hunting for some spare woolens and hats which we had either forgotten to pick up or had lost on the way and in the process, managed to embarrass ourselves by being atrociously bad bargainers. Following dinner at a German cafe in candle light ( the whole region has very erratic power supply) , we marched back to our rooms, in cool evening with the vapour forming as we spoke in hushed tones in the darkness.
Some of us decided to climb a rickety old ladder and get to the terrace of the hotel . As you looked up, you could see literally millions of pin-points of light, a scene which I do not think have ever seen before. You could actually look at the milky way, a band of light across the skies. The scenery was absolutely ethereal and you could make out features on the nearbye mountains just from the light of the stars. Occasionally, a shooting star would zip past and quietly, we would asked each other " Did you see that ?" and we would reply in the affirmative even if we didn't. But we did not mind. It was heaven to just be there in the cool outdoors and sound of the breeze in the poplar trees that surrounded the one storey building. Sleep came soon at the end of eventful day and we prepared for the following day as the real journey was yet to come.
Trampled byY Trip at 2:42 PM 0 comments Links to this post
