Author Archives: Christine Raschke

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Thailand – Full Moon Parties, Scuba Diving and More

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IMG_20141008_173651 While traveling around the world is an absolute dream, one of the tougher things about the journey is that we are constantly on the move. Every 2-3 days having to unpack and repack our suitcases and getting on the road takes its toll. While we had originally planned to use the month of October for a more comprehensive tour of South-East Asia (e.g., Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos), we ended up deciding to stick to one place, Thailand, and take it more slowly. Christian had been to Thailand a couple of times before and described it as a laid back beach paradise. I was sold! But before paradise could begin, we had to take a long journey, flying from Bhutan to Bangkok, followed by the overnight train down South to Chumphon and then finally several hours on the ferry, before we arrived at our destination: Koh Tao.

Koh Tao is a small little island off the east coast of Thailand. The reason we chose Koh Tao is to get our PADI Scuba Diving certificate. Turns out the island graduates the greatest number of scuba divers in the world. I liked the place the minute we set foot on it. Barely more than a stretch of beach, the island is laid back enough to feel you’re in a remote place but with enough beach bars and restaurants to explore for a week. Our little hut right on the beach made us feel like in paradise. Amenities were limited (no AC, simple room with cold water shower) but the direct beach access and sunset views were worth the trade-off.

Before starting our scuba diving course, however, we set out for one more adventure. The legendary “Full Moon Party” was happening the next night on the neighboring island Koh Pha Ngan. It’s a gigantic, all-night beach party with several DJs. The event attracts several thousand people every month. We were curious to check it out even though somewhat skeptical based on what we had heard. Lots of young travelers that can go a bit overboard. But, we were already in Thailand. Plus, since our wedding was on the night of a full moon, it was technically our “3-month moon wedding anniversary”. So why not give it a try. The journey there was enjoyable in itself. A nice boat trip and long stroll along the beach in Koh Pha Ngan, followed by sunset beers at a cute beach bar.

We were ready for the party! First, we got ourselves a “bucket”. Literally, a flask of alcohol mixed with a soft drink in a bucket. Admittedly, not my favorite cocktail. Second, some hula hooping on the beach. Really fun with the music, especially in this unique setting. Christian and I got to know people from around the world and danced until the morning hours. Despite our original intentions to make it through the whole night without sleeping, we couldn’t resist to get a cheap room for a 4-hour nap before taking the morning ferry back to Koh Tao. I guess we are getting old 🙂 Overall it was beautiful to dance on the beach under the full moon, however, it’s more of a college-party scene and the music was a bit too mainstream for my taste. I had secretly hoped for a sliver of Tomorrowland DJ tunes. But, all in all, a worthwhile experience.

Back on Koh Tao, we were ready to go diving! The course took 4 days. Christian and I found ourselves “back in school”: a mix of (entertaining, 80s style) videos, some theory and then the actual dives. Anita, a teacher-turned-dive instructor from the UK, was our dive teacher. Very experienced, great instructor but also really fun to spend time with. Besides getting the actual certificate, I realized how special it felt to become more integrated into Koh Tao’s dive community. Our daily schedule gave us plenty of opportunity to socialize and hear people’s life stories: early morning 5:15am wake-up calls to hit the best dive sites before others, a Tuk Tuk to the pier, boat trip to the first dive site, back to town, out on the water again for more dives in the afternoon, back to the dive shop at around 5pm, followed by evening beers with the New Way Diving crew. The dive masters/instructors all had their own, interesting stories to tell. From different countries, ages, and backgrounds they came to Koh Tao for various reasons: to escape from the stressful corporate world in “the West” in search for a more balanced life, to finally pursue a long-had passion after retiring or to just have fun for a year or two before starting a career. I was contemplating if I could see myself as a dive teacher. Having a boat as an office, spending all day long in flip-flops in the sun and teaching people a fun sport does sound tempting. Yet, I don’t think it’s my life’s calling. Although I must say that both Christian and I got a true appreciation for the sport itself and the technical capabilities needed. On our last dive, having mastered the basics, we were able to immerse ourselves more into the actual experience. The weightless floating. The serenity of the underwater world. The incredibly diverse nature with all its unique shapes and creatures. Like a wonderland. I can see why people can’t stop exploring this magical place. Christian and I are hooked! A new sport we both enjoy.

After our lovely stay on Koh Tao, we opted for a change of scenery (mainly to evade the starting monsoon season on the east coast). Off we were, first to Khao Lak and then to Phuket on the west coast where the monsoon was just trailing off. We settled into a daily routine of meditation practice (more on that in a later post), lots of reading (also mainly on meditation), language learning (Christian is continuing his German practice; I started to learn Spanish), wedding blog writing and video editing, and some exercise. All of that with nice beach breaks, new activities (elephant riding & bathing!) and lots of tasty Thai food in between 🙂

It’s been really pleasant to “settle down” in Thailand for three weeks after having been on the move for three months. A great way to explore Thailand’s culture while carving out time for our personal projects. More details to come on the latter soon! Stay tuned, C&C

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Trekking in the Bhutanese Himalayas

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Exhilarating, strenuous, cold, remote, stunning, and very rewarding. Those are just a few of the words that come to mind when summarizing our recent 7-day trek to the Jhomolhari base camp in the Bhutanese Himalayas.

I was very much looking forward to this adventure and being back in the remote wilderness. I must admit, however, that I tend to romanticize those type of trekking trips, somehow forgetting the unavoidable painful moments. But Christian and I love the challenge. And with that challenge comes appreciation and a sense of accomplishment. And that’s what we feel looking back on our Himalaya adventure.

The incredible thing about an organized trekking tour (you have to book through a travel agency to get a tourist visa to Bhutan) is that you really “just” have to carry yourself up (and down) the mountains. Everything else is taken care of. Tenzin, our tour guide, brought us up to speed with Bhutan’s history and every imaginable story about Buddhism; our horse guide took care of our seven pack horses; and three other guys managed the camp. Yep, that’s right: 5 men and 7 horses supporting just the 2 of us! Sounds like luxury camping. But wasn’t. The whole experience was still an adventure. It was physically challenging (we hiked an average of 15km a day with an average altitude difference of 1500-2000m), it was hard to breathe (our highest pass was 4890m), and it was cold (freezing temperatures at night which made sleeping through pretty much impossible). But it was so worth it. Here is a glimpse of our daily “life in the mountains”:

Day 1: Talking about challenges, we didn’t even make it to our starting point on Day 1. Heavy rain in the days before our hike had caused some landslides, blocking the road. Our driver, determined to navigate through the narrow opening on the street, tried to make it through. That turned out to be a bad idea. The car slid to the left and hit a huge rock. Luckily, the damage wasn’t too bad.

There was no way, however, to drive any further so we packed up our stuff and decided to walk instead, adding 3 extra kilometers to the 22 kilometers planned for that day. And the fun was only about to begin. The rain had turned the rocky trail into an enourmous mud slide. What we expected to be a long but leisurely hike through the sub-tropical forests ended up being an 8-hour balancing and rock-jumping exercise.

Exhausted but proud of our progress, we reached the camp side where hot tea and a glimpse of the stunning Jhomolhari summit, Bhutan’s second tallest peak, awaited us.

Day 2: We woke up to sunny skies and a crystal clear view onto Jhomolhari. Just beautiful.

Energized we set out to conquer the next 17km of the trek, hugging the valley floor and a fast flowing river.

Close to the 4000m altitude mark we came through a small village. Really just an accumulation of a handful of houses. It’s hard to imagine to live in such a harsh climate. The place is snowcovered from November to March and people mainly live off yaks and sheep. Despite being remote, the people were quite inviting. A group of villagers that were catching up (outside in the cold) happily posed for pictures. And some school boys took the opportunity to practice a few English phrases with us.

After one more hour we reached the base camp (4080m) with spectacular views onto the 7314m high Jhomolhari. It got cold pretty quickly so we bridged the time until dinner, snuggling up and reading in our sleeping bags. Besides the actual hike, dinner was the main highlight of the day. We couldn’t wait for our daily dose of hot soup – the best imaginable thing when it’s cold outside. Well, actually, there was something that topped the soup. When we all huddled in the kitchen tent that night, our crew produced a whiskey bottle. Not being a big whiskey fan my enthusiasm was limited. But, hey, try that stuff with some hot water. It’s magic! The perfect way to warm up before jumping back into your sleeping bag.

Day 3: Our acclimatization day. In order to avoid altitude sickness, the itinerary plans in an acclimatization day at the base camp. While we had woken up to clear views, that soon changed.

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We set out on a 4-hour hike up to the actual base of Jhomolhari and got caught in a hail storm before it started to snow a bit. Crazy how you can get all types of weather within a couple of hours.

Back at the camp in the afternoon, the sun reemerged. Time for some hooping with the crew! This turned out to be super fun. Our horse guide had the funniest technique and everyone cracked up laughing. Once dusk was upon us, the typical routine kicked-in: reading, dinner, mystical stories in the kitchen tent over our shot of “hot-water whiskey”, some more reading, bedtime 🙂

Day 4: This was a tough day with an ascent of 800m followed by a descent of 1000m. But also very rewarding. We passed yak herders through a stunning scenery with crisp blue alpine lakes and rivers. The weather gods kept challenging us with a hail storm during the last 200m of our ascent. But we made it up to the highest point on our route (4890m), cold and sweaty at the same time!

The amazing outlook was shortlived, however, as we needed to make a 1km vertical descent back down to our camp. Again, the scenery made up for the workout. Our path led us through rocky cliffs, wildfower meadows, various nomadic settlements and provided incredible views onto gigantic waterfalls.

Our camp was tucked away in a beautiful small opening in the wood right next to the river. Optimistic about the sun that broke through the clouds, I took a little “shower” in the river. But, somewhat predictably, the weather turned rainy and cold within minutes so my enthusiasm was shortlived. I jumped back in my usual 5-layer outfit immediately. The attempt to start a cozy bonfire was rained out. But we had gotten a few minutes of warmth.

Back to our usual treat: a bit of hot whiskey and hot water bottles. Yes, our crew prepared hot water bottles for the night for us! This was another nice surprise. Reminded me of my childhood when I was sick and my mum would tuck me into my bed with a hot water bottle. Without our little “heaters” I would have probably woken up even more times during night.

Day 5: Both Christian and I thought we had the hardest day of the trek behind us. Happily we jumped “out of bed”, stretched our stiff bodies and eagerly awaited our hot coffee and breakfast.

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Our cook kept surprising us with new items. That day he produced pancakes. Strengthened, we continued the journey. But it was not as easy as expected. The previous four days of intense hiking in altitude must have taken a toll on us. Both Christian and I moved in slow motion, our bodies feeling incredibly tired. Like snails we dragged ourselves up the first 200m past hillsides lush with rhododendrons before gradually climbing above the tree line again. And then we hit the last killer ascent, a steep 550m climb up to our last pass (4520m) on the trek. Mentally, this was the toughest stretch for Christian and me. But I also knew it would be our last big one. And again, stunning views from the top. Only one more hour downhill to our camp for the day!

Arriving at the camp, Tenzin, our guide, surprised us with a Druk 11000. Druk is one of Bhutan’s national beers. The Druk 11000 is an extra strong version with 8%. We were happy 🙂

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Day 6: Our last day of hiking. One more last, steep ascent before venturing into a 1.6km vertical, rocky downhill path. The weather gods on our side, we had sunshine for the whole day. After arriving at the camp site around lunch time, we ventured out to meet locals in the nearby village.

While enjoying a beer at a local grocery shop (really just a room with some basic goods), we got a peak at “doma”. Doma is an integral part of Bhutanese culture. It’s made out of betel nut, betel leave and lime (synthetic calcium carbonate). You chew the mixture which makes your mouth go slightly numb and stains your teeth red. It’s spat out after chewing, so you can see doma stains on the ground all over the place in Bhutan. These days the government is trying to reduce the use of it given its addictiveness and negative health implications. But it’s so ingrained in Bhutanese culture that people, especially older ones, won’t give up the habit.

Two little girls, just back from school, were curiously peaking through the shop window. Happy that I had brought the hoop, we attempted to teach them how to do it. Very timid at first, the girls barely dared to touch it. But with a little encouragement they went for it, and had a lot of fun.

Back at the camp there was one more game we wanted to try. A typical Buthanese stone-throwing game. Sounds pretty simple (i.e., just get the stone as close to the target as possible). Turns out it’s not. Both Christian and I were pretty bad at it. Our trekking crew, unsurprisingly, “rocked” the game.

With a little bit of nostalgia, we enjoyed our last trekking meal that evening. Our cook surprised us again – this time with empanadas and a pizza! What a treat on our last night camping. Satisfied, we stumbled into our tent and, admittedly, were both looking forward to a proper shower and sleeping in a real bed again the next day 🙂

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A day at the ancient market in Shaxi

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It was bustling with people. Old and young, equipped with soon-to-be-filled wooden baskets on their backs, made their way through the narrow streets. Street vendors everywhere. Lined up one after the other on either side of the street or scattered throughout the middle. The air was filled with a variety of scents. Some of them quite good, tempting us to explore their origins, others less so. Christian and I found ourselves at the weekly Friday market in a town called Shaxi.
Shaxi, which is located in the Yunnan province only about a 2 hours drive away from Lijiang, started as a trading point for tea and horses during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It’s said to be the most intact horse caravan town on the ancient tea route leading from Burma to Tibet. We were struck by Shaxi’s authenticity. Lijiang (known as the main attraction in the region), Shuhe Old Town (where we stayed at a lovely B&B called “The Bivou”) or Baisha (where we met Dr. Ho) were all beautiful but also felt somewhat gentrified and quite touristy. Shaxi, in contrast, felt more untouched, had more local shops and just in general seemed to go about its daily business instead of catering to tourists. It was beautiful and incredibly refreshing. At times Christian and I seemed to be the main attraction in town, getting curious looks from locals ourselves. Wandering the streets, we made some interesting observations.
Besides a very rich local produce offering, teas, staples, clothing and household items, people also stocked up on livestock (or alive animals that would meet the dinner table soon). A small “chicken market” offered a variety of alive chickens in the age range you desired. You just picked the chickens you liked, packed them in a cardboard box and tied the box to your wooden shopping basket.
Then there was the “fish market”, an accumulation of low, square plastic basins with all sorts of fish. You could get them gutted or alive (in a plastic bag).
That said, the most unexpected offering were dental and ear doctor services. Imagine the dentist’s office as a simple plastic chair next to a table with some accessories on the side of the road. The dental offering seemed to consist of cleaning services, teeth removal and also prosthetics. For the latter, one could choose from a few used (yes, used!) dental implants. Some of them were missing teeth. Others were decaying already. I guess better than nothing if options are limited. ‘Unfortunately’, no one seemed in need of (or was willing to undergo) any procedures while we were there.
The ear doctor, however, seemed in higher demand. He was examining the left ear of a middle-aged man. A crowd of onlookers had gathered in a close circle around the patient’s chair. I almost squirmed when the ear doctor, quite a young man, took his silver instrument and ‘dug’ into the patients ear. He moved the long tweezers forcefully from one side to the other. The patient grimaced out of pain. This was not pretty to watch. Suddenly, a dark brown piece (the size of a fingernail) materialized itself. The ear doctor dropped it in a little yellow metal jar on the table. That’s when I realized that the jar already contained dozens of others brown pieces. All of the pieces were earwax! Earwax that probably accumulated over many, many years. The patient played around with his ear, testing his hearing abilities. He seemed pleased with the results. With that ‘fluff’ removed his hearing ability must have just jumped 10x! I was, however, still questioning the doctor’s method. Couldn’t the patients ear get hurt in the process? The doctor, for sure, had attracted some more attention and would probably make good business that day.
Having worked up an appetite, Christian and I hit a few food stalls, eating our way through a selection of noodles and desserts. We didn’t really have an idea what exactly was offered but with an adventurous spirit we tried various dishes. The first dish was a mix of cold rice noodles with different spices, cilantro and a type of soy sauce. Then I saw some kids taste an interesting drink. It was of brownish color with some sort of solid, gelatinous balls inside. Upon tasting it I found it a bit too sweet but good nonetheless. And then we tried this dish that we had seen several times throughout the day. Grayish looking thick, solid custard that was mixed with noodles, spring onion, peanuts and a variety of sauces. Even to this day I still don’t know exactly what we ate. Christian thinks it was lard, I keep telling myself it was some gelatinous, rice-based substance.
With both of our stomachs and curiosity satiated, we made our way back to Shuhe Old Town with a quick stop over at Mount Shibao, renowned for its grottoes with Buddhist sculpture carvings. The day had been a highlight of our stay in the Yunnan region, truly transporting us back to another time.
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Meeting the Famous Dr. Ho

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We had first learned about Dr. Ho from our Lonely Planet. Apparently he was a “world famous” Taoist doctor and herbalist, who was said to have cured illnesses from patients around the world. Curious to learn more and somewhat skeptical if this was one of those tourist attractions, we set out to find Dr. Ho in Baisha, a small town about 10km from Lijiang in the Yunnan province in Southwest China.

Upon finding Dr. Ho’s ‘clinic’ we were hit by a wall of Chinese and international newspaper articles. The articles were framed in glass and plastered all over the outside wall of the house. Somewhat more convinced that there might be something to this story we ventured into the building.

We found ourselves in a dark room with glass cabinets and sales counters that were covered in yet more newspaper clippings. Most of them were faded and yellowish but still readable. A middle-aged man called Ho Shu-Long, who introduced himself as Dr. Ho’s son, greeted us immediately and gestured us to sit down on a wooden bench. His English was fairly good and he could even speak a few words of German. His father had learned some German from Joseph Rock, an Austrian-born botanist who spent about 30 years in the Naxi region to study plants and herbs. Barely having sat down, Ho Shu-Long brought us yet more newspaper articles, in both English and German, neatly arranged in plastic covers.

An old woman, that has been sweeping the outside area of the house when we arrived, slowly walked into the room. We were told that this was Dr. Ho’s wife, who was a respectable 91 years of age. She seemed unfazed by our presence, going about her daily business. We asked if we could meet Ho Shu-Long’s father but he said that wasn’t possible. I felt disappointed. Having found the clinic I had gotten curious to learn more. Two minutes later however an old men slowly walked in from the backdoor. It was Dr. Ho! He looked exactly like one would imagine a wise old Chinese man with his white wispy beard, a grey, head-hugging hat, and a white somewhat dirty doctor’s coat. He moved around with slow but intentional movements. For his 92 years he looked in great shape! We introduced ourselves and he seemed excited that I’m Austrian, probably evoking old memories from his friendship with Joseph Rock. Similarly, he was excited about Christian’s Australian origins as his doings had been covered by Australian TV and radio shows as well. He pointed us to books by Bruce Chatwin, an English travel writer. It was Chatwin’s 1986 New York Times article “In the little-known Kingdom of Joseph Rock” that shot Dr. Ho to fame. Many journalists and camera crews followed thereafter.

Dr. Ho investigated if we had any problems after he had positively remarked that we seemed to be in good shape (many of his patients seem to have weight problems). Well, that was a good start! Christian told him about his high cholesterol levels. That’s where it got interesting. The two set down at the corner of one of the sales counters. The consultation started. It was surprisingly short. Dr. Ho basically just asked Christian a few simple questions before taking off into the adjacent room. The room was overflowing with plastic jars and containers of all sizes. He took a brownish looking powdery mix out of a couple of containers and went outside to the back terrace where he mixed the dusty combination together. Back in the consultation room the instructions followed: drink the powder three times a day (for one month) mixed with hot water and some honey. Seems almost too easy. I was somewhat skeptical that this tea blend would mysteriously lower Christian’s cholesterol levels. But I was too quick to judge.

Dr. Ho gave us another flyer (this one in German) laying out his holistic philosophy for a happy and healthy life. While his medicine will help, he tells his patients that “Optimism is the best medicine” and urges them to: “Live a simple life. Eat simple. Don’t smoke or drink.” He also advocates that both Western and Chinese medicine in the right combination can have a very positive impact. That seemed very open-minded. His son elaborated on their philosophy: “Live with compassion as for a loving heart will be happy. Live your life in balance. It’s good to experience all emotions but not to the extreme”.

He continued: “My mother (remember she is 91) is completely self-sufficient. To this date she washes her own clothes, prepares and cooks food and cleans the house.” Truly stunning! “While some people would call me a bad son, my philosophy is that those chores give my mother’s life meaning and make her more happy.” He believes that for the same reasons his 92-year old father still runs the clinic

Besides getting Christian’s cholesterol-curing tea (we’ll report back on its effectiveness), this turned out to be a very inspirational visit. Good food for thought on what really matters to live a happy life.

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China: From ancient dynasties to modern republic

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I’ve always been fascinated by China, its rich history and multifaceted culture. Despite history class in school, reading Chinese literature, and seeing movies from the ‘Last Emperor’ to ‘Jackie Chan’, I was never quite able to stitch together a completely coherent picture of the various dynasties and political influences over the years. After having spent three weeks in this fascinating country, we learned a ton about the history. So much so that we wanted to give it a separate blog post. Here is what we’ve learned.

 

China’s Dynasties: Rivaling kingdoms, unification and foreign rule (6000 BC – 1911)
  • China is one of the longest lasting civilizations on earth, its roots reaching back to 6000 BC. The Song Dynasty (1766 BC) is considered to be the first “dynasty” even though it only controlled a very small part of the country. There was a lot of fighting going on during this period between neighboring kingdoms. Despite this turmoil, the land was intellectually fertile and Confucianism was able to take hold around 500 BC spreading thoughts on ethical behavior and hierarchical structures – a system that underpins China’s culture to this date.
  • The Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) was the first to unite the broader country. They unified measurements, the currency and the written language, thereby laying the ground work for a cohesive state. The first emperor Qin Shin Huang was the one who ordered the construction of a mausoleum in which he wished to be buried one day together with his “army”, the Terracotta Warriors. The Qin were also the ones that established the Great Wall from the various sections that had been built by separate independent states before.
  • Next up was the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). This dynasty was so important that the name “Han” still refers to ethnic Chinese today. During this period China was also a major trading partner on the Silk Road, showcasing its importance as an Eurasian power. Eventually economic struggles and social unrest led to the downfall of the Han, followed by centuries of rivaling kingdoms.
  • The Sui Dynasty (581-618) reunited the rivaling country and built the “Grand Canal” which up until the 19th century remained one of the most important communication routes between North and South China. The Sui lost power due to disastrous military setbacks it incurred trying to invade Korea.
  • The following Tang Dynasty (618-906) is seen as the cultural zenith of China due to its openness to ‘Western’ influence (e.g., intermarriages with Central Asia, fashion from India). Chinatowns around the world are still called Tangrenjie (Tang People Streets) to this day. Another noteworthy fact is that China’s only female emperor was part of the Tang lineage. Increasing provincial power eventually brought the dynasty to a downfall.
  • The disunity lasted until the Song Dynasty took over (960 – 1126). The economy flourished through increased scientific and intellectual advances across many disciplines and the emergence of a truly China-wide market.
  • External threats were growing, however, and Genghis Khan expanded his Mongol empire eventually taking over all of China and establishing the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). The Mongols eventually proved less able at governance than warfare and had to hand over the reign.
  • The following Ming dynasty (1368-1644), despite trying to impose strict traditional social norms on the population, saw commercial growth and social change continue. The construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing as well as the reconstruction of the Great Wall happened during this time. Traders from Europe started to arrive, bringing with them new crops and increased commercial activity. They were quickly followed by missionaries trying to spread Christian beliefs. Internal power struggles, however, eventually gave the opportunity for another foreign power to take over: the Manchu.
  • The Manchu, a nomadic war-like people from the North, ruled China as the Qing Dynasty from 1644 to 1911, creating much of the map of China as we know it today. During the 19th century several factors contributed to their downfall: the opium wars in the 1840s (resulting in British rule over Hong Kong and the opening of ports to foreign trade), the anti-Qing Taiping rebellion (1850-64) driven by a pro-Christian movement, broader foreign imperialist incursions nibbling away on China’s coastline (e.g., Macau) and the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95). The Chinese people called for reform and were in favor of a republic.

The first Republic (1912-1949)

  • The first republic lasted less than 40 years. Some describe this time as China’s darkest period, marked by external imperialist pressures and domestic political tensions. Sun Yatsen, the leader of the counter-dynasty movement, served as the first president but was soon overthrown by a military leader, followed by years of provincial in-fighting.
  • At the end of WWI, a time of intellectual turmoil and discontent with politics, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) was founded. Among the founding group was Mao Zedong, a library assistant from Peking university. Sun Yatsen (back from exile) formed the ‘bourgeois’ Kuomintang party. The following years were marked by an alliance of the parties together with the newly formed Soviet Union. The goal was to reunite China. Much of China was “reunited” through military pressure over the following years, the alliance however came to an end when the Kuomintang themselves seized power in 1928 under Chiang Kaishek (a military leader who had taken over after Sun Yatsen’s death). What followed was a war waged against the CCP. The ‘Long March’ forced CCP members to flee 6400km across the country. Only a fraction survived.
  • The approach of WWII saved the CCP. Both the Kuomintang and the CCP played an important role in defending the country against Japan over the next seven years. The CCP emerged as the ultimate ‘winner’ after a 3-year civil war with the Kuomintang, having increased its troops size and party membership across the country thanks to its guerrilla role during WWII. As the head of the CCP, Mao Zedong declared the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

Mao’s China (1949-1976)

  • Mao’s ideology was based on finding a role for every citizen in the new politics and society. The break-up of traditional structures (e.g., landlord and tenants) was liberating for many but a time of terror for others. The CCP focused on socialist economics to boost production. One of the most ambitious plans, the ‘Great Leap Forward’, promising to increase productivity across industry sectors turned out to be a disaster. The agricultural output from collectivization drastically fell short of expectations, causing famines responsible for more than 20 million deaths (some say the losses were even higher). The hardships continued despite a return to a somewhat more market-driven economy.
  • Concerned that China was growing too satisfied with the rising standard of living, Mao launched a massive campaign of ideological renewal, the ‘Cultural Revolution’. Self-promotion and propaganda helped Mao achieve cult status. His followers became known as the Red Guards. Critics of his direction (including CCP party members) disappeared. It was an era of violence that brought creative thinking and academic research to a standstill. Eventually, the police forced the Red Guards off the streets. In the early 1970s, China threatened by the now-hostile USSR started to engage in diplomatic talks with the US and the Cultural Revolution slowly died down. Many people responsible for crimes during the cultural revolution got away without any charges. Still today, the CCP discourages the open debate of this period.
Reform Era and China Today (1976-2014)
  • With Mao’s death in 1976, the CCP (mainly under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping) set out to modernize the economy. This included breaking down the collective farms, encouraging small enterprise, and establishing four Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to promote entrepreneurship and encourage foreign investment. Politics was kept on a much shorter reign.
  • The urban middle class, however, had appetite for more freedoms. This sentiment culminated in the 1989 demonstrations on Tiannamen Square. At their peak in June 1989, the internationally embarrassed CCP imposed Martial law, violently removing people from the square. The death rate is estimated to be in the hundreds.
  • After three years of a political freeze, the CCP engaged in further economic development, trying to address the growing regional inequality and rural poverty. Over the years, the question of political reform found itself shelved, partly because the economic growth was bringing prosperity to many (albeit in unequal fashion). In 2011, China became the 2nd largest economy in the world, overtaking Japan. Today, China’s economy, despite its high growth rates, remains imbalanced and is mainly skewed to the export industry and high-investment projects.
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Hula Hoops and Smiles in Mongolia 

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People stare at me and my luggage when I walk through an airport. Their attention is drawn to what looks like a big shiny neon yellow and orange ring that is hanging over the handle of my pink carry on bag. My hula hoop.

Teeba, one of my good friends and a passionate hooper, suggested I try hooping as well. We both love to dance and besides being a great workout, hooping is a form of self expression and, if done to music, a form of dance. Her wedding present for me: a collapsible hoop that I could take with me on our world tour! I love it.

One of my goals on our journey is to get better at hooping (but more on that at a later point as I’m still in the beginner’s stage). However, so far the hoop also had another, unexpected effect on our journey. It helped us connect with people around us, bridging any cultural or language barriers. This shiny toy attracts attention. It sparks curiosity. From little kids to older people, without us prompting, they come over, pick up the hoop and just play. It’s as if the hoop brings out their inner child.

Here are a few impressions from Mongolia. The hula hoop helping us meet new people and creating lots of smiles.

10

For experienced riders only

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I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Was this really a good idea? Or would I regret this later? Or worse, even come out injured? It was a brisk but clear and sunny morning and I was standing next to “our” horses that would carry us across Northern Mongolia over the next seven days. And there were many of them. Ten in total. Six for us to ride on (Christian, myself, our tour guide Ashley, our cook Segi and our two horse guides Jagaa and Galaa) plus four pack horses. The horses looked restless, pacing back and forth in the realm of their ropes. Not very comforting that they were also kicking at each other once in a while! I hadn’t realized what “half wild” meant. Had that even been mentioned in the brochure when we booked the trip? I guess it must have been. My thoughts were interrupted as Jagaa, the main horse guide, called for me. It was time to get up on my horse.

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Several months ago, when Christian and I started to plan our big trip, we both had a few “must dos” on our personal wish lists. One activity on mine was a multi-day horse back trek in Mongolia. I was excited by the thought of traveling through the least densely populated place on earth – on a horse and only with a tent. That sounded like the ultimate sense of freedom and adventure (and something to do before we would have kids). I found a great option. A French tour company, called Randocheval, offered a 20-day Mongolia trip: two horse back treks (one seven days, one five days) in different parts of the country with ger camp stays, hiking and monastery visits in between. The only catch: the description said “for experienced riders only”. I felt a bit unsure. I had some horse back riding experience from three day-long trips I did over the course of the last 10 years. Christian was a bit more experienced than I was. However, the classification “experienced rider” would be a bold exaggeration for both of us. I dropped the tour operator a line and got back good news. As long as we were both healthy, physically fit and had been on horses before we should be fine!

So here we were at Lake Kovsghol (in Northern Mongolia very close to the Russian boarder) and I was wondering if my enthusiasm and romanticism of a horse trek had gotten the better of me when booking this trip. Ashley, our tour guide, gave us a few quick instructions. Well, three to be exact. #1: always approach the horses from the left hand side (otherwise they might freak out), #2: say “choo” if you want the horse to go faster (and do so loudly conveying control), #3: never let go of your reigns. Really, that was everything I needed to know? What should I say if I wanted the horse to stop? But there was no more time for questions. Jagaa helped me get up (from the left side) onto my new buddy for the next week. So far so good. My horse seemed to be fairly calm. Then another thought crossed my mind: “Horses can feel if you are nervous”. Isn’t that what people always tell you? Great. My horse was probably already working out a grandiose master plan on how to play me. I kept telling myself “this feels good”, “I can do this”, hoping to convey confidence. Suddenly my horse started moving, following the horse guides and the pack horses up onto our first hill. Off we were on our trip!

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Over the next two days I grew closer with my horse as we were walking and trotting along the lake over open meadows, passing through dense woods and seemingly endless valleys. Christian and I decided that our horses needed names. He named his “Pferdeknoedel” one of the first words he learned in German (the meaning is similar to “horse poo”). I baptized mine “Clumsy”. It kept tripping over stones, roots and there-like. It seems that horses can’t really see very well which is kind of scary to be honest. And Clumsy seemed to have a higher incidence rate of tripping than the rest of the pack which freaked me out at times (it feels like your horse might fall and you with it). Day 3 was a highlight, in more ways than one. In the morning Segi, Ashley, Christian and I took off, leaving the pack horses behind and cantered (kind of like a slow gallop) through a broad valley. It was a beautiful feeling (first time I cantered!) and it felt like I had made a big jump in my horse back riding skills. Just before lunchtime we were crossing a swamp with a small stream of water. I was on guard as our horses seemed easily scared by water (and anything unexpected that might be in it). I was right behind Segi’s horse, trying to make Clumsy cross the stream slowly. And then it happened. Segi’s horse got spooked and jumped back. Seeing this, Clumsy lost it. He made a leap forward, overtaking Segi’s horse. Then kicked both his back legs back before he jumped up in the air with his front legs up. It felt like riding a very aggressive bull. I was scared to death. Everything happened in slow motion (or so I believed, as according to Christian the whole episode probably didn’t take longer than six seconds). And I only had one thought in my head: “Don’t fall of the horse”. I was so afraid that I might break a bone or even have something worse happen to me… My dad got thrown of a horse when he was young and broke his collar bone. Even though he had been an experienced rider he’s never gotten back onto a horse after that. I must have somehow internalized that story. With my right hand I held onto my saddle as strongly as I could. After a few seconds I must have realized that I also still had the reigns in my left hand. In a moment of clarity I pulled back the reigns as strongly as I could and just screamed “brrr” and “stop” (that’s what riders say in Austria to stop a horse; stopping a horse in Mongolian hadn’t been part of the intro for this trip). The horse was still wild. After a couple of seconds it calmed down and stopped. I was in shock. I couldn’t move and was just sitting there until Jagaa arrived and got a hold of the reigns. I stumbled off the horse and realized how much I was trembling. But, I had not fallen off. Somehow my survival instinct had kept me on that horse. Everything was ok. It felt like a miracle.

The afternoon and next morning were interesting. We continued the trek. There would have really not been any other option, plus, getting back up on the horse immediately seemed like the best way to get over this incident. Jagaa and Galaa were impressed that I had managed to stay on the horse and manage to calm it down. So the good news was that I had been able to deal with the situation despite my limited horse back riding skills. The bad news: what if it would happen again? I must admit that I lost trust in Clumsy. What would freak him out next? A fly on a random meadow? So I decided to exert more control. I was alert every single second, held the reigns tight, kept scanning the ground for any stone or hole that might trip him up and steered him around it. It was exhausting and not very much fun. Clumsy didn’t like it much either. Neither did Christian as I turned into a tense and somewhat unhappy companion. So what should I do given we still had three full days ahead of us? The more I thought about it the more I realized that being on guard every second wouldn’t change much. What had happened was serious and I learnt from it but one can’t really foresee such incidences. Plus, I had shown that I at least have a chance of dealing with such a situations. So that made me feel a little bit better. Secondly, the incident had nothing to do with my horse in particular. Mongolian horses are half wild so they are by nature a bit more uncontrollable. So I tried to change my mindset and relax my rules of “controlling” the horse the next morning. It worked. Clumsy was much more calm and I was able again to enjoy the experience and take in the wonderful scenery.

Reflecting on our time in Mongolia, I’m really glad that we chose to do the trip. The incident was dangerous and rattled me. That said, we achieved what we had envisioned when we set out to do this trip. We got our fair dose of adventure. We had a true feeling of freedom. And I also took my horse back riding skills to the next level. In the second leg of our horse riding trip around the Amarbayasgalant Monastery we actually spent most of our time cantering and galloping! That said, I wouldn’t call myself an “experienced” rider quite yet 🙂

4

Snapshots of Mongolia

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What we learned on the history

Our visit to the National Museum of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar was the perfect way for us to get a great overview of Mongolia’s rich history. From there, our Lonely Planet and our tour guide, Ashley, were able to fill in many more of the details. Here’s what we learned:

For thousands of years (and even today), the Mongolians have been nomadic people. The nomadic lifestyle defines many aspects of Mongolian culture from the food they eat (based largely on the meat and dairy products of the animals that can travel with them) to their incredible hospitality to strangers (a necessity to ensure mutual survival as people traveled across the vast country).

Over the course of history, there have been 3 major dynasties in Mongolia that have extended beyond their own country. The first was the Hun empire which began around 200 BC (the famous Attila the Hun of 5 century AD was from this lineage). The second major dynasty was the Turkic dynasty which began in 6 century AD. And the final dynasty was the largest, and most renowned, the great Mongol dynasty of Chinngis Khaan in the 13th century. From a small nation with a relatively small army, he was able to conquer the greatest armies of his era. The empire he created was one of the largest in history stretching from China to Hungary and from India to Russia. Although renowned for being merciless in battle, he is better known in Mongolia as the great law giver. One major factor that facilitated the success of his vast Mongolian empire was from the laws he established from religious tolerance, to free-trade zones to diplomatic immunity.

In more recent times, Mongolia has gone from communist republic to a thriving democracy. In 1924, Mongolia’s desire for independence from China saw them siding with the Russian Bolsheviks and embracing communism. During this time, the Soviets imposed a huge degree of influence over Mongolia. One positive byproduct was the standardization of education and increase in literacy, which before communism was lower than 5% and by 1990 was greater than 95% (hence why Mongolia today uses the Cyrillic alphabet).

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 80’s, Mongolia went through its own transition away from communism to a democratic republic in 1990 and has since then gone through a period of rapid modernization. We experienced the modernized side of Mongolia in the capital Ulaanbaatar, seeing the new building constructions, getting caught in intense traffic and tasting the polluted air. However, it was only a short drive out of UB that showed us how the majority of Mongolians live on the country side, many in Ger tents, with strong ties to their nomadic heritage. This was the most interesting side of our Mongolian experience.

 

Lake Khovsgol and Horesback Trekking Part I 

Picture a seemingly endless, dark blue lake surrounded on one side by steep, grey rocky mountains and green, rolling meadows full of Edelweiss on the other. Sounds like the Austrian Alps and the Sound of Music, doesn’t it? Well, I’m actually talking about Lake Khovsgol in Northern Mongolia and the place we spent the first 7 days of our adventure (and yes, Mongolia is covered in Edelweiss!).

Our typical day looked something like this: horseback riding throughout the day across a scenic landscape (including some scary moments with our horses), camping in the wild without anyone in sight (except the nomads and their livestock of course, who are the main inhabitants in this region), getting the run down on Mongolian history from our guide Ashley over dinner while enjoying a meal of potatoes, noodles, rice, fresh cucumbers and canned/ jarred vegetables (and all the possible combinations thereof), learning how to play Mongolian card games during down times (and a few Mongolian words, however, Cyrillic pronunciation is really hard to remember), listening to scary camp-fire stories about shamans (the main religion of most steppe and taiga tribes) and wolf attacks (not helpful if one needs to sneak out of the tent in the middle of the night to go the “bathroom”), cuddling up in our tent (wrapped into multiple layers of clothes to weather the freezing temperatures at night), waking up over breakfast with instant coffee mixed with milk powder (not like our beloved espresso, but hey, thank god we have coffee!), packing up camp, saddling our pack horses and off we go again.

And on one of the days during our trip we had the luxury to camp next to a hot spring. Wash day for us and our clothes!

 

Reindeer People

One day we visited a family of Tsaatan people (Reindeer people). In contrast to the other nomadic ethnicities with their livestock, the Tsaatan live off reindeer. We were welcomed into their yurt (which is a tipi-like tent and different than the round ger tent that other nomadic tribes live in) and were struck by how bare bones it was. No beds (one of the sons was sleeping on the floor while we were there), no stools, no stove… really nothing. The family came down south to Lake Khovsgol in the hope to earn some additional income from tourism. They sell hand-made bags and souvenirs. Tourist camps pay them to stick around the area as a tourist attraction in the summer season (that said, we’ve unfortunately heard that coming so far south is to the detriment of their reindeers). One of the unanticipated highlights of our meeting with the Reindeer people family was kicking around a ball with their 4-year old son. He was a little bundle of energy and happiness.

 

Amarbayasgalant Monastery and racing horses across the steppes

Amarbayasgalant monastery is one of Mongolia’s national treasures. Built in 1737 and fortunate to have survived the former communist regime, the monastery is a beautifully designed Buddhist temple in a remote and spectacularly beautiful setting deep in the steppes of Mongolia.

We arrived here at the start of the 3-day annual prayer festival, where thousands of prayer goers flock and camp nearby (seeing the camping and the procession of cars entering along the dirt road kind of reminded us of Burning Man!). Lonely Planet said that this was the best time to come to the monastery; however, this is one occasion where I have to disagree. Once the festival was over, Christine and I really got to experience the awe of the place which is accentuated by its remoteness and peacefulness.

Starting from the monastery, we began our second horse-riding adventure. And while we would have thought Khovsgol would be hard to top, this was by far and away our best horse-riding experience. Each day we spent literally hours racing our horses, cantering and galloping through the beautiful steppes. It was simply exhilarating. At times we got concerned that we would wear out our horses but our horses never seemed satisfied to just walk or trot, and our horse guide, Zorig, assured us the horses could handle it. I guess they bring them up tough here in Mongolia!

 

Nomadic living

Nomadic living is the hallmark of Mongolia. While it was born out of necessity to sustain ones life, many today chose the freedom and independence as a lifestyle (over urban life in the capital city Ulanbaatar). Christian and I got to experience this first hand, spending a day and night with our horse guide Zorig’s extended family. Nomads have a summer and a winter camp, so the place we camped at was their summer residence (their winter places have more stable, wooden houses than their ger tents and better shelter for their livestock).

We were put to work immediately. Our first task: rounding up baby cows and bringing them back to their stable and collecting dozens of dispersed sheep and goat (so that they don’t mix with livestock of neighboring nomad families). This was really fun and a good way to test our newly acquired horseback riding skills. Next up was milking cows. Sounds straightforward but isn’t. Well, Christian seems to be more of a natural talent on this one. The next morning we helped prepare the milk for further processing which meant aerating the cooked milk to get rid of bacteria. Dairy is a crucial part of the nomadic diet and milk finds its way into every meal. After that it got dirty: collecting cow dung and piling it up for drying (the dried dung will be used for fire during winter). Admittedly not my favorite activity 🙂 Many times during the day I had to think of my mum who grew up on a farm herself.

In our breaks we kicked around a ball with the kids or observed them trying to capture squirrels. They were on summer break and typically stay at a boarding school during school time.

If I’d summarize our observations from the day, I’d say: nomads work hard (and we have a new appreciation for all the work that goes into every cup of milk tea or curd chip we were offered), they are incredible hospitable and live by a mantra of helping one another out, and despite having a very simple lifestyle they seemed very satisfied and happy.

 

 

3

Making new friends

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IMG_3492 (Small) One of the goals of our year-long trip is to get to know people around the world and hear their stories. Turns out that Cappadocia was a great place in that regard. We had booked a day-long tour to visit some of the main sights in the area (called the “Green Tour” that hits the Derinkuyu Underground City, Ihlara Canyon and the Selime Monstery). Upon boarding our mini-bus outside of our B&B, the Rose Valley Guesthouse, we saw a couple jump in right after us. After only five minutes on the bus, the guy turned around and asked where we are from. Turns out he, Greg, is from Australia, born in the same district of Sydney as Christian, studied opera singing and will get married this December at the same church that Christian’s parents got married at. What are the odds! Only after a few minutes of chatting, I knew we would get well along with the two of them. Hannah, who is originally from the UK but has been living in Australia for the past seven years, works in social media marketing. Greg is a teacher. Both seemed easy going, cracked jokes, shared their own stories about life and were really interested in what we were up to. What I initially expected to be a rather touristy and theory-packed day (in general, I’m not a big fan of group tours) turned out to be really fun and interesting. Not only was the tour much better than I thought (thanks to our upbeat tour guide Dennis who shared many stories about Turkey’s history and culture but also made an effort to introduce the whole group to each other) but sharing this experience with others and making personal connections made a real difference.

Even without making concrete plans to meet up again (that said, the four of us were living in the same B&B), life had another encounter planned for us! The same day after dinner in the village, Christian and I were passing a little restaurant (well, one could say it was more of a cave/barn) I saw someone waving in the corner of my eye. I almost ignored it, thinking some local wanted to lure us in for dinner or to sell us some other goods. Fortunately I did take a closer look, as it was Greg sitting there with Hannah! What was intended as a quick hello, turned into a true Turkish cultural experience. Ali, the owner of the place called “The World of Kebab” couldn’t speak much English. But turns out he had spent 30 years of his life in Germany so we were able to communicate in German (plus, Greg, who’s really into languages, speaks German as well). Ali had returned to Cavusin (the little town we stayed in next to Goreme) about five years ago. While he was ready to move back to Turkey and be closer to his family after three decades in Germany, it sounded like he was still trying to re-integrate in his little village. Having grown up in a small town myself, I can see how hard it must be to come back to a place with a well-knit community where everyone has grown up with each other. That said, Ali seemed to focus on the positive side of things. He proudly showed us how he had built a baglama (also called saz), a Turkish guitar. And a few minutes later there we were: listening to his guitar play and singing, passing around a drum so that all of us could showcase our musical talents. Curious to learn what Ali had planned with his restaurant, he showed us two adjacent cave rooms that he was renovating (formerly used as stables for animals). Not only was he going to redo both rooms by himself, he also decorated them with his own wall paintings and sculptures. It struck me that Ali was (and probably needed to be) completely self-sufficient to make his dream come true. Very inspiring to see him with such energy and enthusiasm as he was building out his small business! At the end of this special evening, we took our “running into each other” destiny in our own hands and Greg, Hannah and we decided to meet up again for a sunset dinner picnic the next day (yay, I love picnics!)

The next day we met Greg and Hannah at 6pm and assembled the last delicatessen for our picnic feast. Turns out we came up with a good spread of nuts and dried fruit, local cheese, some bread, savory pancakes (think ‘wrap’), a chicken sandwich and, of course, some local red wine. A short, steep ascent later, we were on top of the “old city” of Cavusin (ancient caves that were built into the stone walls of the hill). It was a beautiful and fun evening, enjoying a great conversation over local food while watching the sunset. We learned that Greg and Hannah just got engaged (one week after our wedding!) and are about to move to Hong Kong to “try something new” (where we may try to meet up again when we visit our friend Shilpa in September). Lots of our conversation centered on learning languages. It’s really fascinating. The topic of language learning and how to best go about it keeps coming up on our journey. So does Duolingo, an online language learning app, which seems to already have gained widespread use around the globe. If you are interested in learning a new language, stay tuned. Christian will soon write a blog post on his insights while learning German.

Cappadocia, thanks for introducing us to Greg, Hannah and Ali. I felt like I got to know the more personal side of the little village of Cavusin and made friends that we’ll hopefully meet again on our journey around the world.