Litang to Kangding, China - a day of embarrassment...
I had booked the bus (only 1-bus that leaves at 6:30 a.m., 6-hr. trip) to Xingduqiao planning on taking another bus once there onto Ganzi (10-hr. trip). It was pitch dark, none of the buses are named or numbered, and asking different people I got different answers about where the buses were going. Welcome to the Chinese bus system!
I finally found the correct bus (the driver even agreed it was the correct bus!) and loaded onto the fully packed vehicle. It held about twenty people and all of them, except me, were Chinese, and spoke no English, inlcuding the driver and attendant.
I had been drinking tea, trying to keep hydrated as the altitude tends to dehydrate you, before coming to the bus station. In the confusion there was no time to use the facilities before getting on the bus. About 2-hours into the trip I could wait no longer and had to use sign language to indicate I needed to pee. The driver was kind enough to immediately stop the bus and allow me to step onto the three foot shoulder next to a stream and pee in front of the entire bus load of Chinese tourists. Chinese are not a bit shy about starring.
Later in the day we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant. I pointed at one of the dishes someone else had ordered and that went fine, they brought me the same thing with rice (I think it was yak meat with potatoes). I then heard the bus horn and saw it leaving the parking lot with some of the passengers onboard. I ran out and tried to flag it down. All the others in the restaurant laughed. They gestured that it would returm. I think it must have been going to get gas and the people who weren't eating at the restaurant just stayed onboard. I'm always happy to amuse the locals.
As I journeyed towards the juncture where I would get off to travel to even more remote regions, I decided that might not be the best plan. For me it felt too hard to travel to a place where people spoke even less English and where there were even less western travellers. I decided to try to go onto Kangding, which was the destination of the other passengers. Before getting to the juncture, Xingduqiao, I tried unsuccessfly to communicate to the driver by change in plans. I then remembered that the word "mayo" (like in mayo-naise") meant "no" in Chinese and used it successfully negate the city I was originally going to go to and then showed some money and said, "Kangding" and they got the point. The extra fare charge was only $2.50. By now I'm sure they thought I was a totally crazy foreigner.
Along the way we saw the typical things that happen in any country, but a little more in these more remote regions with the rough roads they travel. We saw a backhoe that had toppled on its side right next to the road and broke an electric pole in the process and a large truck that had overturned. We also saw a small hotel on fire in one of the villages. Lonely Planet had said it might be good to bring your own smoke detector, and now I see why!
I found a room and negotiated a daily rate from 80 to 65 Y. The odd and annoying thing was, they wouldn't give me a key. Whenever I want to go in or leave I just ask the young girl in the lounge right next to it to unlock and lock it. If she's a sleep I just knock on her door, a room nearby. We'll see how well that works...
I talked to a few westerners already, hoping to find people to share trip expenses for something around Kangding, but they were all leaving on trips already or going to a different city. I'll continue the effort tomorrow.
I had booked the bus (only 1-bus that leaves at 6:30 a.m., 6-hr. trip) to Xingduqiao planning on taking another bus once there onto Ganzi (10-hr. trip). It was pitch dark, none of the buses are named or numbered, and asking different people I got different answers about where the buses were going. Welcome to the Chinese bus system!
I finally found the correct bus (the driver even agreed it was the correct bus!) and loaded onto the fully packed vehicle. It held about twenty people and all of them, except me, were Chinese, and spoke no English, inlcuding the driver and attendant.
I had been drinking tea, trying to keep hydrated as the altitude tends to dehydrate you, before coming to the bus station. In the confusion there was no time to use the facilities before getting on the bus. About 2-hours into the trip I could wait no longer and had to use sign language to indicate I needed to pee. The driver was kind enough to immediately stop the bus and allow me to step onto the three foot shoulder next to a stream and pee in front of the entire bus load of Chinese tourists. Chinese are not a bit shy about starring.
Later in the day we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant. I pointed at one of the dishes someone else had ordered and that went fine, they brought me the same thing with rice (I think it was yak meat with potatoes). I then heard the bus horn and saw it leaving the parking lot with some of the passengers onboard. I ran out and tried to flag it down. All the others in the restaurant laughed. They gestured that it would returm. I think it must have been going to get gas and the people who weren't eating at the restaurant just stayed onboard. I'm always happy to amuse the locals.
As I journeyed towards the juncture where I would get off to travel to even more remote regions, I decided that might not be the best plan. For me it felt too hard to travel to a place where people spoke even less English and where there were even less western travellers. I decided to try to go onto Kangding, which was the destination of the other passengers. Before getting to the juncture, Xingduqiao, I tried unsuccessfly to communicate to the driver by change in plans. I then remembered that the word "mayo" (like in mayo-naise") meant "no" in Chinese and used it successfully negate the city I was originally going to go to and then showed some money and said, "Kangding" and they got the point. The extra fare charge was only $2.50. By now I'm sure they thought I was a totally crazy foreigner.
Along the way we saw the typical things that happen in any country, but a little more in these more remote regions with the rough roads they travel. We saw a backhoe that had toppled on its side right next to the road and broke an electric pole in the process and a large truck that had overturned. We also saw a small hotel on fire in one of the villages. Lonely Planet had said it might be good to bring your own smoke detector, and now I see why!
I found a room and negotiated a daily rate from 80 to 65 Y. The odd and annoying thing was, they wouldn't give me a key. Whenever I want to go in or leave I just ask the young girl in the lounge right next to it to unlock and lock it. If she's a sleep I just knock on her door, a room nearby. We'll see how well that works...
I talked to a few westerners already, hoping to find people to share trip expenses for something around Kangding, but they were all leaving on trips already or going to a different city. I'll continue the effort tomorrow.
posted by Chris at 8:39 AM
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