A Ramble On Bangladesh

November 1st, Dhaka.

I came to Bangldesh to shred the gnar. I figured I only had a couple months left to travel so I should make it to some crazy places. I was not prepared for what I would see and experience. For the first time in Asia I feel uncomfortable walking the streets.

The second sentence in my guide book is "Due to images of war, famine, disease and poverty, Bangladesh has largely fallen of the radar for tourism. I have yet to meet a single foreign tourist here. The only foreigners I have seen were at the airport (on a lay over) and in the embassy. Every Bangladeshi I meet asks me why I have come to Bangladesh. When I reply "tourism", they are genuinely confused.

This month was my 8th month of traveling in Asia. I had been to 10 countries and I figured I had seen a alot. I thought I had seen overpopulation and big dirty cities. I thought I had seen poverty and people begging for money, living a rough life. But when I came to Bangladesh I was blown away. It is total mayhem. It far surpasses any other gong show I have ever seen. Everywhere I go people are asking for money. If they can speak a couple words of english they say "Where you from... Give me visa" The people are desperate to leave. Twelve year old kids are walking around without shoes through the streets, asking anyone for money. However some of these young kids are working already: In metal fabrication shops, driving rickshaws or polishing shoes. And it doesn't matter if your on the busiest most modern road in the country, the ment don't hesitate to do their bussiness, making most of the urban areas almost unbearably stinky.

My 4th day in Bangladesh was the biggest gongshow yet by far. On a bus ride to a small city I was pick pocketed. This was the 4th time in Asia I had been robbed. Im not sure how it happened but when i went to get my wallet it was gone. I lost my bank card, student card and drivers licence as well as about 100 dollars cash. I also lost a Portebellos Sandwhich card that was one stamp away from a free sandwhich.

After I realized I was pick pocketed I made my way to the cop shop. All I needed was a report for insurance purposes. But unfortunately the cop's could speak very little english. The cop shop was a total gongshow. It felt like I had stepped back in time hundreds of years. There were even spears near the front entrance. And they werent for display. The gaurd at the front had a gun, made out of wood. After 6 hours I managed to get a police report that had the highest concentration of spelling mistakes I had ever seen in my life. Hopefully it will work.

During the 6 hours at the shop I was interviewed by a journalist. And within a couple of days I was Famous in Bangladesh. I made it into 5 newspapers, including the number one national paper.

I feel like i could write for hours. But Im hungry and have to get out of here. Although Bangladesh is crazy the people are incredibly generous. I've only had to pay for a hotel one night in 10 days. The rest of the time ive been stayin with people either in Dhaka or in villages. I also had a coule of free nights in a hotel thanks to the cops who felt bad about my money. But either way it is incredibly cheap here. Food and accomodation for one day can easily be covered for under 5 dollars. The hour long taxi ride it took to get here cost me a $1.20. For now Im still workin on gettin a new bank card. Some advice for those about to travel: Open an account with an international bank such as HSBC. I've looked but I have been unable to find a Squamish Credit Union Branch in Bangladesh. Also carry a visa in a safe place and don't keep all your money together but rather seperate it into different places. Fuck travellers cheques if you plan on going anywhere nubtbar. American cash is the way to go an will often come in handy.

The craziness can't be conveyed it words.

Gotta go eat,

Tyler

A preview of a very long story I plan on writing when I return to Canada

September 6th, Shigatse.

About a week ago I boarded a train to Lhasa (Tibet) from Chengdu. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I travelled 3rd class (Chinese Standards) because it was the only ticket available. The trip was 46 hours long. All of the 3rd class cabins were like full on refugee camps. People sleeping everywhere, vomiting, smoking. I had a sleeping mat but on the first night couldn't bring myself to lie on the floor. But by the second night I had sprawled out on the floor between cabins beside a toilet. I was exhausted. I was woken up by some guy after and hour or so and told to go sit down. But my seat had been stolen. So I sat on the floor. The next and final day I played shit head (a card game) with Dave, a Huang Mao a couple of cabins down. I had met Dave at the Hostel in Chengdu. I would end up spending a lot of time with him.

In Lhasa we got a place at a Hostel. The plan was to visit a lake a couple Hundred KM out of town. I proposed the idea to ride bikes. I was laughed at. Riding 200 Km on a bike was a ridiculous idea!?!? Two days later Dave and I were riding our newly purchased, 115 dollar chinese bicycles, with backpacks bungee corded to the back, towards Kathmandu Nepal. The only thing between us and Kathmandu were 1000 Kilometres and the Himalayas.

We've tossed our guide book as it is no use to us in the small towns we've been staying in. Yesterday Dave (out of Habit) said "I'm gonna head back to the Hostel." I started to laugh. We've not been staying in Hostels but rather Tibetan's houses and spare rooms. Last night there was no electricity. The night before there was electricity but no toilet. There was one toilet in town that closed at sunset. After that people just watched and wazzed on the street.

Along the way we've had a cheering squad: people honking and waving at us from their cars, kids screaming hello as us, and all sorts of animals making noises that I had never heard before. We've got 750 Km to go. Tomorrow we start the first mountain stage. As of now the plan is to keep on given'r, fueld bike yak butter tea and 25 cent bowls of noodle soup.

Cheers,
Tyler

Representing Brackendale in Tibet

This was written September 26

Last time I wrote I was in Felai Si, 80 kilometres from the Tibetan border
in the northwest of Yunnan province. According to all the guidebooks and
travel agents, Felai Si is "the end of the road as far as foreigners go."
You need a permit to get into the Tibetan Autonomous Region, but the
section of Tibet accessed through Yunnan is off limits to foreigners all
together. I had decided I wasn't going to go into the Tibetan Autonomous
Region and was headed quite the opposite direction. The last email had me
going in the direction of sun in either the Philippines or Indonesia.
Tibet, one of the main reason I came travelling was out of the itinerary.



Well most of you know me as being very random. And sure enough, less than
twelve hours after I last wrote, I found myself on an old beatin up bus
headed towards the border of Tibet. I didn't know how long I would be on
the bus or how far the journey would take me. I couldn't even pronounce
the name of the city. I would just have to wait and see what happened. And
besides, I had been travelling for a couple weeks now and time was becoming
less and less a thing I thought of.



The drive was one of the nicest I have ever been on. The road wove it way
through valley and over mountain passes. At the bottom of the valley, some
three to four thousand feet below, was the mighty Mekong River. This river
is more commonly seen in either Thailand or Vietnam. But there it was,
thousands of kilometres up stream from Thailand, coming out of the
Himalayas. At the top of the mountain passes were Tibetan prayer flag and
some Temples. When ever we crested the top of a pass the Tibetan
population aboard would begin singing and cheering, a we started our
decent into another valley.



After five hours we entered a dusty one town street that had more
livestock on the street than cars. This town was the first stop in the
Tibetan Autonomous Regions. I was officially bad ass by being in a no
foreigners zone. But I definitely did not want to stay in the town. So I
began acting lost and within a few minutes a Chinese tourist who could
speak a couple of words of english approached me and asked me where I was
going. I told him I wanted to go to Lhasa and he motioned me to follow
him.



We got in a minibus the length of a Toyata Tercel and somehow managed to
cram a driver and 8 people inside, along with bags. Again I was on a bus
with no one speaking english and had no idea where I was headed. Right off
the bat there was some comedy. A usual, the driver had stopped for an
unknown reason at a house along the way. When he returned he backed out of
the driveway and began driving. But there was a small hill about 5 metres
longs. He had er pinned and just couldn't make it up the hill. He tried a
couple times unsuccessfully before we started unloading (this was about 5
minutes into the trip). But even without the weight he couldn't make it up
the hill. So we had to push him the 5 metres while he had the little
lawnmower engine pinned. But he was able to make it up. We climbed for
about 30 minutes on a moderately sloped dirt road before we stopped. We
were in the middle of nowhere. There weren't even any yak or donkeys
wandering around. But there was a bus parked on the side of the road.
After paying the driver I followed everyone onto the bus.



This was the third bus of the day in which I knew nothing of the journey.
But it ended up blowing away even the earlier trip of the day. It is
without a doubt the most stunning scenery I have ever seen. The passes
were higher, the river looked tiny far below, and in all directions their
were rolling grassy hills. But best of all were the Tibetan villages along
the way. These villages were more or less untouched by the Chinese.
Surrounding the village were people working on the farms. I'm not talking
about people driving tractors or other big machines. I'm talking about
people walking along side yak pulling sticks. It was incredible to see
people living a life like this.



This scenery continued into the night. I had been on a bus since 8 in the
morning and now it was getting dark and I had no idea how much longer it
would go on. My back had been getting progressively worse as we went over
every bump and I was launched into the air again and again. Finally, about
12 hours after getting on the first bus we pulled into a small town I
later learned was Mangkang. The town was surrounded by rolling hills with
temple and prayer flags covering the peaks. The majority of the population
were Tibetan. However, like most Tibetan towns, the majority of business
was carried out by Chinese. The Tibetans are very poor in their own town
as the Chinese flood in from the rest of China. The reason the Tibetan are
so poor is because the Chinese businesses owners are heavily subsidised by
the government. Prior to the Chinese invasion almost all of the
businesses were Tibetan.



While in this town I met Tse Top. He was in his late 20's and had run away
from home when he was younger. He ran away to India where he studied and
earned his masters degree. He was returning to his home town for the first
time in 15 years. He explained a lot about Tibet to me. He told me how he
can barely recognise his own country. It had been totally Chinafied. HE
went on to explain how Tibetan people are living in fear. They fear the
Chinese spies who carefully watch the local. They are careful of what
they say as it is possible to be imprisoned for mere speech. If you ask a
Tibetan what they think about the Chinese most of them will say they love
them. But it only a precautionary measure that they this. "The Tibetan
people look happy on the outside but on the inside are deeply sorrowed."



Tse Top was really interesting and has actually changed my entire trip.
After talking to him, South East Asia was out of the plan and I was now
heading towards India. He gave me his and some of his friends contacts in
New Dehli as well as the address of the Tibetan Hostel where they lived.
After Lhasa I would go onto Nepal and then into India.



When I tried buying tickets the next day I had a bit of trouble. They
wouldn't sell us any. And because no one could speak english I had no idea
why. I assumed it was because we weren't supposed to be in town. But there
had been a cop on the bus earlier and just like everyone else in town the
military and cop both stared at me when ever they saw me. I ended up
finding a Chinese tourist who could speak some english. I brought him to
the Bus station with me after I explained my situation. When we got there
he began talking to the ticketer. After a minute or so he began yelling
and the ticker. I had no idea what was going on. After a couple more
minutes they topped talking, both smiled and I was told to thank the man
who had been yelled at. I soon found out that I could buy my bus ticket
for Lhasa at 7 the next morning.



The next morning when I went to the bus station there were passengers but
no driver and no one selling tickets. After waiting an hour some one
showed up. I casually went up to buy my ticket but was denied. I asked
another tourist to translate. She began yelling at the ticketer but then
turned to me and said I needed a permit. After arguing for a while I gave
up. It was no use. I began thinking about Seven Year In Tibet.



The only thing to do was turn myself into the cops. I took the 10 minute
walk toward the station. Would anyone there be able to speak english?
Would I get fined or put in jail? I had no idea what to expect. When we
got there no one was there. There front door was open but there were only
some old motorbikes parked in the front entrance. We waited outside for 15
minute before a guy pulled up. He looked at us then walked inside. He
began to bang on one of the doors and then opened it and yelled inside. He
pointed for us to go in. Inside the room were 3 sets of bunkbeds filled
with sleeping cops. As we walked in they pulled the blankets over their
heads. The man yelled at them again and one poked his head out. I asked
him in Chinese if he could speak english. He nodded. I told him my
situation about needed a permit. He clearly had no clue what I said as he
staired at me blankley for a couple of seconds before banging on the bed
below him and then returning to sleep. The cop below was able to
understand me somewhat.



Without even getting out of bed he asked to see my passport. He still
asked where I was from even after reading it. But he also told me to go
photocopy it. I returned with a photocopy and gave it to him. He then said
I was good to go on the bus. He hadn't done anything with the photocopy or
even talked to the bus station. I told him they wouldn't let us get a
ticket. After confusing him even more he sent me to the military to deal
with my problem



At the military base things were a little more professional, but not by
much. In there I explained my situation yet again. They were very helpful
and knew exactly what I needed. But the permit issuing office was not
opened for another 45 minutes. After eating I returned just after the
office opened. They gave me directions to the office inside the building.
When I got there no one was there so I returned to the soldiers and told
them. One of them looked at his watch and told me that no one would be in
because it was Saturday. But he did tell me where I could go, to the
polices.



When I returned to the Cop shop the only people awake were a couple of
toddlers. The kids were sitting inside the cop van and honking the horn.
Inside everyone was still sleeping. By now it was 10:30. But upon our
return one of them got up. After a lack of communication he motioned us to
sit down and then made a phone call. He had called a translator who was
supposedly making his way over. In the mean time the cop asked me if I
had a camera. I gave him mine and he giggled as he looked through the
pictures. He also took the opportunity to practice his english. And after
45 minute of pretty funny conversation with the cop the translator walked
in.



Finally I would be able to know what was going on and how I was going to
get out of town. He told me that the area I was in was off limits to
foreigners and that I could take a taxi out of Tibet. I was in town
illegally. So that was it, I would be out of Tibet before I knew it. I
began walking down the street towards the taxis at the bus station. After
about 2 minutes the cop car pulled up beside me with flashing lights. I
got inside the car and as we drove towards the bus station the cop in the
passenger side was talking into a mic that was projecting loudly above the
van. When we got to the taxi vans he told me how much to pay and then they
threw on the sirens, busted a U'ie and the waved as they drove away.



There wasn't any mention of paying a fine or anything like that the
entire time. I wasn't off to Lhasa and it was lot of driving but the
experience was awesome. The good new was that I didn't have to back
track. I made my way directly into Sichuan Province where I am now.
After being that close to Lhasa I have given in. I bought a permit and
leave for Lhasa by train on the 28th. The train I 45 hours and the only
class available was hard seat. I will without doubt go partially crazy.

This is going to be interesting. Im at a computer right now in Kunming in southern China. The only english on the screen is the words that i am writing. It took me a long time to be able to find out how to post an update. I won't even be able to view it until I am in another country. China heavily sensors the internet. Sites such as Wikipedia, Blogspot and other ones that might degrade 吃拿阿惹古俄. Those last few characters were by accident and it took my 5 minutes to figure out how to type in english again.

As i mentioned above I am in Kunming, "The Spring City". It wasn't really the plan to come here...

I landed in Hong Kong Friday night. The flight over was awesome, a lot better than I thought it would be considering I payed so little for it. I left at 6:30 PM and arrived at 9:30 PM the following day. It's a strange feeling when you land after flying across the pacific. I had just spent the night watching movies, eating the peanut butter sandwiches I had made at home and trying to sleep as much as possible. But when I arrived it was still night.

I met some people on the plane who had lived in Hong Kong so I had my own tour guide pretty much right off the bat. They explained to me the best way to get out of the airport and into town so I could check into a hostel. They sent me off on my way and I was fairly confident with being able to get into the city and finding a place. But as soon as I was out of sight of the people I met on the plane I was lost in the airport again. Compared to other Asian countries China is very difficult to travel in. But because Hong Kong was a British colony so there are a lot more people who can speak english. I approached a group of students and started chatting with them. They were super helpful and held my hand around the airport, helped me buy a bus ticket and walked me to the bus.

Once I arrived in downtown Hong Kong I walked around for a couple hours and couldn't find a place to stay. I'll take this as my first chance to comment on how bad Lonely Planet Guide books are. After quite a while I gave up and got a taxi. I told the driver yo home to Chung King. As I arrived at Chung King I was swarmed by guys trying to sell me rooms for the night, with prices ranging from 15 to 100 dollars. One guy was very eager and insisted I only look at what he has to offer. But when I was approached by another guy in front of the building the first guy didn't seem to like this. I thought there was gonna be fists swinging but there was just some pushng and shoving. The initial guy was yelling and a crowd was gathering. Pretty entertaining at 2 AM, but as it was going on I snuck away and ended up looking at a room offered by an calm old lady that slowly led me to the 4th floor and that is where I ended up staying.

Chung King Mansion is unlike anywhere else in the world. It's almost 20 stories tall and has a court yard that is full of garbage and shit. If you end up with a window opening into the courtyard you must keep it shut. It is disgusting and the few times I have smelt it I felt like vomiting. Probably the worst thing about my room was that it dod not have any windows at all. So I had no idea what time was because of the lack of changing light. Having that effect combined with jetlag and sleep depravation, a pretty funny first morning in Asia unfolded.

The room had a bed, tv, shower and toilet and no window. You might get an image in your head of fair sized, dirty hotel room. However, the entire suite is about 2 metres by 2 meters and is very clean. That first morning I woke up I was feeling groggy and my eyes were burning and throat was sore from the airconditioning in the box that I had slept in. I was still feeling tired and unsuccesfully tried to fall back asleep. After laying with my eyes shut for a short while I checked my watch and it said 3:30PM. I jumped out of bed and started packing as fast as I could. There was no way I wanted to stay another night here. After 5 minutes I was packed and snuck out of the hostel. Luckily no one was around and I did not have to checkout. If I was caught, surely I would have to pay for another night, because check out is at noon.

When I walked into the street it had a very strange feeling about it. It had just rained and there were very few people around. It felt similar to Jakarta during and after Ramadan. I found it odd that the streets were so empty on a Saturday afternoon. But I didn't waste anytime and decided to find a dorm room. I was successful in finding one on the 16th floor of Chung King. But when I arrived at the reception (an old school desk agains a pale beige tile wall with posters from years past) there was no one around. On the wall there was a number to call to check in. I called this number and a Chinese man wearing pajamas sleepily walked in. He didnt say much more than was required of him for me to check in. I payed my 6 bucks and went into my dorm. It was cheap and had a window. Man were things lookin good. It wasnt too dirty either. But it was full of sleeping people... Should I have arrived one day earlier? Did I just miss out on the biggest party ever. I couldn't be bothered to go back to sleep so I decided to go walk around after I dropped off my bags. As I left the dorm room I was greeted by another traveller watching the BBC and smoking a cigarette. We got to talking and after a few minutes I commented on how sleepy the whole city was feeling. And thats when I found out that I had woken up at like 6AM and had forgotten to change my watch ahead 13 hours.

I spent three days in Hong Kong. It was my second time there and it did not have the same feel as before. There is nothing like arriving there for the first time. There are so many people and you can't help but wonder if there is any order to the randomness. I did have a fun time there though. The first day I met a French couple, Emilie and Natheal. Were both had the same plans, to apply for Visas on Monday and leave to the mainland of China as soon as possible.

Saturday and Sunday found us walking around. Eating food and checking out the markets. I only brought one t-shirt and a shorts so I needed some more clothes. I bought some shorts at a market as well a red shirt and a white shirt. I washed it all together and I am currently wearing a pink shirt. Some other misadventures include the theft of my toiletries out of my dorm. Probably the best thing that could have been stolen.

The last day in Hong Kong was the most interesting. Emilie, Nathael and I picked up our passports and them met up with 2 local Hong Kong locals, Sindy and Queenie. I had met them rafting during the summer. They were incredible hosts and showed us around before we made our way to Aberdeen on Hong Kong Isalnd. Once there we boared a ferry and road it to the Jumbo Floating Restruant. Super Cheesy sounding but it turned out to be the nicest restrauant I had ever been to, which might not say much considering I am from Squamish. There we spent 3 hours and and between the five of us spent a total of 50 dollars total. I was the most stuffed I had beeen in a long time. The meal was a traditional Chinese Dim Sum. We ate about 20 different dishes of small portions, with everything from spring rolls to chicken feet. It was something special.

After the meal I made my way to the train station. The previous day I had bought a ticket to Shanghai. Shanghai is China's biggest city and one I had yet to visit. I didnt really feel like going to another big city, but it isn't every day that I can hop on a train to such a place. So when I bought the ticket I knew in my mind I wouldnt be spending much time there. I ended upo spending even less than I thought I would.

About halfway to the train station from Aberdeen I began to get a little stressed out. Time had flown by and I hadn't left much time to spare in making it to the train. I made it to the station quite late, only about 20 minutes before departure. And about 25 minutes later I found the area of the train station where I should have boarded the train. I was pretty pissed of. I just wasted 80 bucks. But I got over it quickly. I made my way to the ticket counter and purched a ticket for the next train out of Hong Kong. This ended up being Guangzhou a huge city that I had no intention of staying in. Three trains and two and a half days later I ended up in Kunming, where I am now.

In 2005 I spent a month in the province and had fallen in love with it. The hostel I stayed in was called the Hump Over The Himalayas and it had been a place I wanted to return too. It was somewhat of a pilgramage for me to come here. And I still love the city, it is an easy place to spend more time then inteded. It's fun to just walk around, get lost, and sample the many different foods. So when I booked my bus ticket north this morning, 4 days after my arrival, it was with some sadness. But it was time to move one. The stay here did not compare to that of 2005. The people running the place are different, there are no social events, and the overall vibe is quite tame compared to before. But it was still the most fun I have had in China this trip.

My bus that leaves in a couple hours from now is bound for Zhongdian, or as the Chinese call it: "shangri la."

Summer 2007

A quick recap of this summer. It went by fast. It rained a lot. I worked almost every day. However, with some free time I was able to accomplish some major goals; I climbed the Chief, Explored the headwaters of the Elaho and kayaked down the Elaho and Squamish rivers. In the middle of the summer I did a mountaineering course through a Company in Whistler which I've been freelance working for. That course allowed me to do some work in Whistler such as Glacier tours and day hiking trips. Near the end of the summer I took over a week off and went hiking into some old growth for a couple days and then took off to the interior to spend some time kayaking. I leave tommorrow for Hong Kong and the only plans I have are the plans to nail er shut Brackendale style on the other side of the world. I have signed up for courses in January. But I'll have to see at the time if I want to come back.