Shiyin??’s Blog

Sep 30: Homeinn Xining

Today we were not too worried about the drive although there was also over 800 KM to reach Xining: the road was supposed to be good.

It was as expected: most of the time we could drive over 80KM/hr except for speed limit in towns and villages. It felt incredible to be back on real highway after 16 days!!! After driving on the toughest and most difficult roads in China and probably all over the world, today’s drive became really relaxing and enjoyable:)

We did notice the big difference when we dropped from over 4500 meter altitude till around 3700 and to Xining below 3000. The sky color completely changed: it’s still blue, but just nothing like the sky in Tibet – God, I miss it!!! Only one day, I am already missing Tibet: probably the only place in the world that would have such pure color!

Landscape kept changing on the way: from Gobi desert, sand mountains to grasslands around Qinghai lake and then mud mountains to rock mountains close to Xining. 

The towns and villages we passed were clearly not as nice or as new as the ones in Tibet – the government doesn’t give as much money to Qinghai province as to Tibet. 

While climbing down the Xiangpi (Rubber) mountain, we saw Qinghai lake (Mongolian name: Koko Nor)- the largest inland saltwater lake in the world. Qinghai in Chinese means “Blue sea” which came from the Mongolian name and it was right: it is so big that it doesn’t look like a lake at all: it’s about 100 Km long and 50 KM wide and is situated at over 3200 meter above sea level. The water is deep blue – so beautiful! We drove along only the south side of the lake and it took us over 1.5 hours!

The rest  250KM only took us 2.5 hours and we were very excited to finally enter the real expressway! Gao was surprised to find that there was a brand new expressway built which didn’t exist 4 years before when he rode the bicycle through the last time, and it shortened the distance for about 40 KM! The development in China is really amazing: there has been over 100,000 KM of expressway built in the past 10 years!

Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, is a lot bigger and prosperous than I expected. It totally looks like a modern and developed city in the East coast. I was also pleasant surprised by the Homeinn – a chain motel in China: the room was nice and clean and it’s only about 20 Euro!!! I wish it existed in all the towns we visited in the past two weeks!

Sep 29 Ge’ermu Yanhu (Salt Lake) Hotel

Today is probably the longest and the most tiring day for our entire trip. We started at 6:30am while the whole Naqu town was still sleeping – we drove around for a long time and finally found a 24-hour restaurant that’s open for breakfast. It was still dark. We had about 825 KM to go but because of the unknown road condition, we wanted to be safe. 

The first 126 KM there was strict speed limit – 2.5 hours. We were glad that we took the effort to register at each check point since a car behind us was asked to turn back at the second checkpoint since they didn’t get the card from the first one. Many parts of the road were under construction so we had to constantly go down the road foundation to take the “substitute path” which was normally just mud and stone, very bumpy. We could only drive at around 10-20KM per hour. For half-day we were on over 5000-meter altitude but we didn’t feel a thing (many other travelers we ran into were sick as hell!)! I am pretty sure that my body is completely adjusted to the altitude now so there shouldn’t be problem in the future for me to work in this area for the Brailles without Borders project.

It started to snow at around 1500 and we saw trucks were lined up in front of us and two SUV’s from Beijing turned around (they passed us before). The road was blocked till 2000 so we had to take the substitute path. It was totally Ok for our car since ours was made for advanced off-road, however, the Landrover got stuck while passing a little creek – I learned that Landrover was really just for urban drive but not for real off-road like areas in Tibet – friends told me that many Landrovers were shipped out of Tibet since they were not able to make it. Gao is very experienced with situation like this so he used our car to pull out the Landrover (Jie was so proud since we were giving him trouble the whole way about picking this car and today it really made him proud:)). It took us over 1.5 hours to help them and then passed the area of roadblock – this is the only real and challenging off-road experience we’ve had during this trip since we didn’t go to Ali.(Gao told us that Ali would be even tougher than this) which was really exciting for me: there is no road and we were not sure about the direction so had to constantly go down and check, making sure that it’s the right path. It’s more difficult than I thought since we were at such a high altitude. 

It was getting dark but we still had over 400 KM to go. We were basically crossing the whole Kekexili – no man zone. While passing the Tanggula mountain, the temperature dropped below zero and there was nobody around or any village on the way. The toilet situation became a real problem for such a long drive in this area. We were really tired and driving in the mountains at dark and especially taking substitute paths was quite a big challenge – we didn’t know the way. Luckily there were sometimes trucks passing by to show us the direction.

We didn’t arrive Ge’ermu until about 0030 and all of us were relieved. What a day! 18-hour tough drive! We were just glad to see lights and people:)

Sep 28 Zhongqingtangla Hotel Naqu 那曲

Knowing that there is about 1100KM between Lhasa and Ge’ermu, we left early in the morning hoping to make it by midnight. However, the speed control was quite tight and we also didn’t want to drive too fast for safety reason. By the time we arrived in Naqu, it was alrealy 1330 and we still had over 800KM to go which would take us about 15 hours with our previous speed. The problem is the next 800 KM is quite tough, especially from Tangla to Kunlun mountain, 400KM is supposed to be the most difficult for altitude. Gao is worried that if we feel sick in the middle of the night, there is no place to stop in the whole way. 

Although I was really disappointed, I had to agree with them to stay in Naqu overnight and leave early next morning for Ge’ermu. Our schedule is getting tight in order to arrive in Hangzhou by the moon festival.

Qiangtang grassland was magnificent – it was so broad! It snowed here in the past couple of nights so the mountains were just amazingly beautiful. Because we were already at over 4500 meter, all the snow mountains looked really close and really small. And the sky, oh, the sky, I swear I had never seen the sky like this outside of Tibet. That blue is so pure and so close that you felt you could reach the clouds.

I slept in the car the whole morning and slept in the hotel for the whole afternoon – I think it’s because of the altitude. 

Naqu was supported by Hangzhou so we saw lots of streets and  plazas named by Hangzhou and Xihu. It was funny to see that since it looks so different from my hometown. At 4500 meter high, this is a big town, probably the biggest at this altitude. I hope we are going to be ok tonight since this is going to be the highest place we’ve ever stayed overnight during this trip…

Sep 26 21:51pm Shigatse hotel

Today is rather relaxing. Gao and I went to the farm while Jie took Deegee for the checkup at the hospital. We started with an interview with Nobu – his biggest problem is lack of self-confidence, but he is still young (only 19) and that can be trained. I noticed that he was very passionate when he spoke Tibetan to Nyima explaining his opinion, but he was not confident enough to express himself in English or Chinese. Honestly his English is quite good. I think he is trainable and can be a good candidate for the future cheese factory. Then we went to the cheese workshop to see them making cheese from scratch. We noticed that the cheese they make is still quite basic and very much home style. If we want to be able to sell and make profit and later on expand the production, then a lot need to be changed. Zhaxi and Chunxiao stopped by at the farm on their way back to Lhasa and I was proud to be their tour guide – Paul joked that he could leave me here to be in charge:). They were impressed by the children, the farm and the atmosphere They offered their help to bring more people here and spread the word. I believe anybody come here would be touched – I’ve never been any place in my life that is more close to Shangri-la than this!!!

We also tried out the breads the girls made and found that the recipe needs to be improved – they don’t really have any real recipe! I can tell they are passionate about baking and all they need is the right guidance and experience – I will buy them some good bakery recipe books and send them some home recipe. I am sure they will do well.

We did a lot of research during the day while Gao fixed all the broken computers at the farm and set up the wireless network for the office – He is so valuable! We found lots of good information that would help the team here – the key problem they have is that they don’t have anybody fluent in Mandarin that can do research on all the Chinese internet sites and get them information and help. This really needs to be changed.

We hiked up the mountain behind the farm and the view from there is just spectacular. I sat next to Mike, overlooking the farm, the village and the mountains, I really didn’t want to leave: My heart has fallen for this place and the people here…

I will never forget the drive back this evening: The golden sky in front of us, the dark clouds hanging above the mountain, the music playing in the jeep… I was like in a different world. I was so touched that I didn’t even want to take any photos because I wanted this picture to be carved onto my heart. 

Now I understand Why Gao kept coming back to this land every year, because somehow piece of my soul is left here as well, together with the children, the people and the air….

Sep 25th 22:01 Shigatse hotel

It’s been an exciting and fruitful day! Most of the morning I was chatting with Mike – the Canadian Catholic priest that is in charge of the compuse factory, while Gao was fixing all the broken computers, setting up the network and Jie doing research online about cheese market in China. 

Mike is an amazing character: unlike Pentacostals, they don’t preach but are all about education – of course it’s also because of the regulation. It’s part of the agreement that he doesn’t preach to people so that he can be here in China. He was in India (Dajeelin) as a missionary for 35 year s and then he came to Tibet where he always wanted to be. So starting at the age of 16, he devoted his whole life to God. He studied at the Tibet university for 4 years so he speaks fluent Tibetan, as well as Hindi and three other Indian languages/dialects which is quite amazing. The kids at the farm call him Father Lama and they call Jesus “Jesus Lama” – very cool. He truly believes that God is doing the work and he just needs to do what he does so he doesn’t talk about God but I believe that people see God through his life. He is an extremely funny guy too and the kids just love him to death. He put up a Christmas tree every year and prepares gifts for all the kids – of course they love it. 

After a simple lunch together with the staff (honestly they really eat very simple, just one small bowl of rice with some green vegetables and sometimes a little piece of meat, but we did get the farm made cheese which is absolutely delicious!), Gao and Jie played Ping Pong with Paul – he is actually really good, surprisingly! The Pingpong table is situated inside the gym, which is one of the most important places in the farm for the kids so that they can excise and keep healthy without hurting themselves – for example, the treadmill is the most important machine there since that’s the only place the blind kids can ever run. Unfortunately both machines are broken and of poor quality at the moment and hopefully the new ones will come soon. 

Then we started working with the cheese team and the bakery team. After some simple reports, we found that the cost is way too high at the moment, especially the cheese: since the milk is also home produced and with only 3 cows in house, the cost of the cheese per Kg is almost more than the retail price in big cities, especially the fact that we haven’t taken into account the packaging, transportation, administration and rental cost yet! Another problem is that the current team that is doing the calculation have no clue about finances and most of the calculations were wrong. There is a lot of work to do here. Tomorrow we will walk through the current process for the cheese making in order to get the accurate calculation and do some tasting of the bakery so that we can have better idea about how to improve the situation. 

Walking around town together with Nyima, Paul and Ah Chung, I found surprisingly that Shigatse was quite big. Paul told me that there are about 200,000 people now while there was only 10000 in 1997 when he was here helping build the building for the Swiss Red Cross. Of course, it also has a huge red-light district, just like Lhasa. We visited several bakery stores in town for some market research before going for dinner. 

And, Nyima became my teacher for Tibetan and Braille (he is a wonderful teacher by the way, very patient) – I am determined to learn them…

Sep 23 Four Points by Sheraton Lhasa

I was really looking forward to today – have heard about Namtso a lot (Christian and Dennis visited two years ago and I was fascinated by the pictures) and especially that we were not going to Ali anymore, Namtso is supposed to be the highlight of the trip.

It took us quite a long time to get there although it’s only 250 KM from Lhasa – there were total 9 checkpoints and there was tight speed control the whole way!!! Well, it’s getting closer to Oct 1…

We could see the lake from the top of the mountain (around 5200 meter high): the deep blue color looked completely unreal. There was some fresh snow on the mountains and looked like sugarcoat at Christmas. How magical!

The entrance gate is quite far away from the lake already and the ticket is quite expensive (80RMB per person). We felt a little uncomfortable since there were many tour buses – Tibet is going to lose its charm soon with too many tourists…

The weather was beautiful and after a long drive circling around the lake, we finally arrived at Zhaxi Penisula. Many local people opened shops and restaurants there for the tourists. 

The lake （Namtso means Heaven lake) surrounded by the snow mountains (Nyainqentanglha念青唐古拉) looked more or less like a dream. We walked along the lake and then climbed up the hill overlooking the lake, you could just drown in the beauty…

I wish I could have more time to stay overnight, but because of the task next day, we had to leave at around 1730 so I didn’t even get to see the sunset – fortunately we left early, the weather became so terrible in the evening that it took us about 6 hours to get back to Lhasa. (We heard the next day that there was bad snow storm in Namtso that the whole area was locked down.)

I need to come back again!!

Sep 22 Four points by Sheraton Hotel

This is an exciting day. After walking around the old town area of Lhasa – I loved the small alleys and original courtyards where the Tibetan people live, we took a break at Makeame: we picked this place not only because it’s such a famous tourist spot, but especially because I figured there must be a acceptable restroom since there are so many foreigners going there. I was right. The toilet was pretty ok, way better than any public toilets in Lhasa – it’s hard to believe that you have to pay 1 RMB for those disgusting toilets… The hygiene standard for Tibetan people is really really poor which is difficult for us.

At noon time, we left for the school: Training center for blinds in Lhasa, where “Braille without borders” project started. Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg, who I met last year at the Life award ceremony, founded this project 11 years ago. After many years hard work, it’s now a mature school which hosts about 41 blind kids at the moment. (Details please see: www.braillewithoutborders.org, or read Sabriye’s books and the movie “Blindsight”) We were very excited about the visit. After picking up some pastry for all the kids, we found the school in no time. It’s situated in the center lhasa in a small alley. There is no big sign, but we saw two notices in Chinese, English and Tibetan stating the visiting hours, so we knew we were at the right place. It’s a typical Tibetan style wooden door with beautiful painting and carving, we pushed the doors to open and a cute puppy dog came out and welcomed us. The kids were still in class, then the bell rang and suddenly we were surrounded by many smily faces: honestly those were the happiest and purest smiles that I’ve ever seen in my life. They are curious and shy, some were running around, some came to touch us and asked us questions, some sat with each other and started singing. We were just overwhelmed – the energy, the joy, the love is filling up this little courtyard. 

Paul welcomed us with a big warm hug and introduced us to people around. Some of the kids just got surgery the week before from three American surgeons and they look really good. Nima, the project coordinator, who also grew up in the school showed us around – he speaks incredible standard American English although he had never spent time in US. We were just stunned by the fluency and the pure American accent. 

The whole place is cozy and clean, extremely clean – probably at 5-start level! We were just impressed. There are three classes: Mouse, Tiger and Rabbit and after Rabbit class, the kids go to regular school – this was also a wonderful thing Sabriye and Paul fought through since no regular school was willing to accept any blind kid before. Now almost all the kids from the blind training center are the best of the class or even school when they are out – blackboard is difficult for them, but since they all speak good English (normally better than the teachers), they trade English tutoring with their classmates for the notes from classes. All kids here learn to master English, Chinese and Tibetan, read, write and of course using the Braille for all of them. There are two dorm rooms: all 24 boys in one room and 17 girls in the other room. Although it is extremely crowded, rooms are all so clean and the kids never fight.

We spent almost all afternoon talking with Paul and Nima learning about the project, watching video clips from the kids, playing and talking with them, and the best of all, was hearing the beautiful singing from the girls – it was really voice from heaven! Time flew by. We really didn’t want to leave but we knew we shouldn’t disturb too much of the routine. However, we decided to visit the farm – vacational training center for the blinds close to Shigatse, about 200 KM west of Lhasa on Thursday on our way to Ali. That makes us happy.

We couldn’t stop thinking about the kids after we left and finally decided to get chocolates and mooncakes for them – actually it was just an excuse to go back to see the kids again. They are so easy to be satisfied and they are so good at sharing which is unbelievable nowadays among Chinese kids! So we stopped again at night: honestly they bring us a lot more joy than we ever can! 

All this experience hit me so much that I started wondering what I am here for. Why did I come to Tibet? Why did we plan to drive to Ali? To challenge ourselves? To experience excitement? To hear God’s voice? To find myself? Honestly I kind of knew that there was a reason that I did this trip, but it was vague. I kind of knew that God would speak to me during this trip, but I didn’t know what it would be. I took a lot of time this year seeking myself and seeking my values but I haven’t found the real answer yet. 

But today, all this came together. Why do I waste my time going on a “meaningless” trip – of course Ali is going to be overwhelming, but what can be more overwhelming than witnessing the life being changed? What can be more meaningful than bringing smile to an innocent needing child? Why don’t I utilize this time and this opportunity to do something more meaningful, even just a little?

So tonight, I made the decision to cancel the rest of the trip, instead, to go help Paul with their project – I don’t know what, I don’t know how, but I believe that I can, because I believe this is what God wants me to do. 

I felt so light and so relieved once I made up my mind – suddenly I knew this was the reason God sent me on this trip for. 

Thank God that Gao and Jie both agreed with the idea and we would go to the farm on Thursday to see what we can help out there. Today is the day our life is changed.