Alex's Asian Adventure

I'm sitting in a restaurant in Kunming. Tomorrow morning I fly to Shenzhen, take a train in Hong Kong, and say goodbye to mainland China. Here's a recap of some of the highlights of the last month:

• I walked 10km on the Great Wall.
• I got to admire the creepy embalmed body of a murderous dictator. Mmmmm.
• I spent two days wandering around the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an.
• I climbed partway up Pumbo Ri, a mountain near Lhasa, on my second day there.
• I saw some of the important monasteries in Tibet, including Drepung, Sera, Tashilhunpo, Samye and Yumbu Lakhang.
• I spent some time one-on-one with a monk from Drepung, and taught him some English in exchange for learning how to pronounce "four" in Tibetan. Oh yeah, and he gave me a pretty unique book.
• I wandered the Barkhor for countless hours. I learned to bargain like a Tibetan.
• From the top of Pang La, I saw Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu all at once. I nearly passed out from a mixture of elation and low oxygen.
• I slept a night at Everest Base Camp. Oh man, was it ever cold.
• I acquired the pants of a climber from Ecuador, and I seem to have an invitation to go there and climb Cotopaxi with him.
• I saw pandas! I want to be a panda.
• I climbed Emei Shan and admired the concrete hell on top.
• I hiked the Tiger Leaping Gorge!
• I bushwacked for a few hours in the name of a glorious view of Lugu Lake.
• I climbed to the summit of Zhonghe Shan (4092m) from 2700m in 5 hours. In the rain. With no view of anything whatsoever. This was a hike strictly for the love of hiking, and maybe to satisfy some masochistic desires.
• I discovered that despite my rather mediocre cardiovascular health I seem to adapt well to altitude. Maybe I'm fitter than I give myself credit for.
• In the middle of all this, I still managed to find time to kick back, relax, sit in teahouses and chat with people. I'm on vacation, after all.

Above all, I met amazing people everywhere I went. The list is long, but some of the highlights include:

• Katie, with whom I shared a romantic moment in the Maosoleum, wandered around the Forbidden City and spent an evening in Chengdu. She was the unfortunate recipient of some dog bites. But, being a trooper, she's coming trekking with me in India after some salesmanship on my part.
• Guani and Leticia, my Xi'an girlfriends. We spent two days getting lost in the city, and it was great.
• Julien, my Lhasa travelmate for half the time I spent there. We spent many hours exploring town together and seeing the monasteries nearby. We also had a pretty unforgettable trip to Samye on a pilgrim bus. I hope to see him again in Hong Kong... tomorrow!
• Caroline and Demelza, two of the three people I went to Everest with, were really great to share a jeep with. The same can't be said for Megan... but that's all past.
• Patricio, the Ecuadorian climber whose pants I now guard jealously. Maybe a year or two from now we'll meet in Ecuador.
• Doug, the owner of the Everest Summit Cafe in Lhasa - a unique businessman, with a unique business in a unique town. 'Nuff said.
• Michal, my climb-mate for Emei Shan. We had some pretty unforgettable days on Emei Shan and in Chengdu. 'Nuff said.
• Mama & Papa Naxi - they run the best backpacker guesthouse in the world as far as I'm concerned. I'd gladly live there for a year.
• Hummus, Theena, Pita and the rest of the Tiger Leaping Gorge crowd. That was one seriously fun hike.
• Miky and Jean-Brice, who were on the trip to Lugu Lake and did a great job of bushwacking in the dying hours of the day. In hindsight, going on that hike at that hour wasn't terribly smart - but it was terribly fun! Miky is a Japanese chef and wants to open a cafe in Lijiang. I wish her all the success in the world.
• John and Meike, who I climbed Zhonghe Shan with. This Dutch couple is definitely among the best hiking partners I've ever had.

Now, the trip is not over yet, but I'm definitely leaving China tomorrow (unless something goes terribly wrong and I have to spend a night in Shenzhen). It's been a really great time. I've learned a lot about the way this part of the world operates, and a lot of what I've seen surprised me. Some of it has been good (like the warmth and kindness of the Chinese, Tibetan, Naxi and Bai people) and some of it makes your stomach turn (like the dirty, noisy, polluted cities, or the way the Chinese seem to like to spoil wonderful scenery by putting TV towers everywhere).

If you're reading this and thinking "man, this trip sounds so cool" then stop sitting on your ass and book a flight. Travelling through China is dead simple, and doesn't have to cost very much. They love foreigners here. There are backpackers everywhere, and you definitely meet interesting people. There is a lot to see, It's a huge place and has something for everyone. I've been here for five weeks now, and I feel like if I had another five weeks I'd still only scratch the surface of China.

I'm not sure when I'll be back here, but I'd like to come back some day and see more places. I still want to make a pilgrimage to Kailash (but I have to sin more first, since there's no point in wiping away the sins of a lifetime until you've had a chance to rack some up). I still want to see Jiayuguan, the Western end of the Great Wall. I can't make it to Guilin & Yangshuo this time around, since time is too short. I haven't been to the hanging temples in Datong, or to Tai Shan. I've been told by a reliable source that Kham is very cool, and it'd be very interesting to spend a bit of time in Qinghai. There's so much to see, and this is just one country!

Anyway, tomorrow I am on my way to Hong Kong. Even though it's technically China, it's not really China - I have to get rid of all my kuai and buy a bunch of Hong Kong Dollars. I hear the pace of life there is inline with my rather hurried lifestyle, and it'll be a nice change from the easy going in Lijiang and Dali. Next Thursday I fly to India, and a few days after that I'll be in the Himalayas. Yeah!