Hiking mountains in China...

I love Nature. In special mountains. Irony or not, I've lived for the last 2.5 years in Netherlands and Denmark... can you get more flat than that?? ;-)

As I'm in China, I had to explore life outside those 15 million cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Last week I visited Tai Shan, considered one of the best National Parks in China and one of the 5 holy mountains for Taoists and Buddhists. It's easily accessible by train, between Beijing and Shanghai.

I knew that this mountain, as many others, used to be routes for pilgrims for over 3,000 years, and the stair-steps reach all the way to the top. I was also expecting to find "some" visitors, although late March is still low season and a Friday is still working day...

What I found most surprising was the amount of Chinese visitors. The place was full of locals visiting and hiking the mountain. I thought I would be sort of alone and able to enjoy some silence. Ahah! Welcome to National Parks in China.. or should I say "Amusement Parks"? People seemed to enjoy the place almost as much as people enjoy Disneyland, shouting everywhere, gift-shops and people selling all kind of crap literally every 300 meters all the way to the top. Once you reach the summit, you find a little village full of restaurants, more shops, some hotels, cable car and buses to take you down. I must say it was a bit frustrating.

Even though, a little bit of exploration allowed me to find a little path where no tourists found interesting, and I found myself completely alone in the other side of the mountain (which also meant no sounds from humans at all). It was a long 1-hour walk around and back to the croud. I felt satisfied in my own pilgrimage.

I don't want to sound negative or complaining about the tourists, it's just a different perspective on being around Nature. For example, the whole path was surrounded by a dozen temples, where travelers would leave locks, money, candles and incenses for their gods. These locations were absolutely silent, calm, and peaceful, a perfect short stop while walking the way up. I loved it! That also makes me think about what people respect and why...

I met only 1 laowai (foreigner) during the whole day. Ed is from UK and he joined me on the way down, where we searched for some adventure, through the West Route. Basically no path indication, among the trees and crossing small roads, no people there, except a few local farmers...

In the end, my legs were completely destroyed, they felt like jelly... and I reeeeally enjoy the hard-sleeper on the way back to Shanghai!

What is up with Tibet?

If you don't know what I'm going to talk about...

"The 2008 unrest in Tibet began with demonstrations on March 10, 2008 (Tibetan Uprising Day), the 49^th anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. The protests soon shifted from calls for independence to violence, attacks on non-Tibetan ethnic groups, rioting, burning and looting on March 14. The protests are said to be one of the largest agitation and protests against the Chinese government's rule in 20 years. The unrest happened in the week when major local government leaders were away for the annual National People's Congress in Beijing." (source: Wikipedia)

If you want to read more, I recommend the articles Tibet and History of Tibet


Well, it happened that I was also in Beijing during that week, and I saw a LOT of policemen in the streets around Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the National Congress (photos soon...). I'm passionate about Tibet's history, geography and culture, and a sequence of events happened to me last week during my Easter Break holidays (I traveled in Beijing and Mount Tai)...

YouTube is blocked everywhere in Mainland China since March 14 when the violence started. According to a conversation I had with a Brazilian media correspondent in Beijing on March 16, there is no International Media really covering what is happening in Tibet and the only ones are backpackers taking photos and video and trying to upload material and write on the web. The Government and BBC were taking about 10 deaths but over 300 had already been killed by Sunday. Another conversation with a person from the Danish Embassy gave a me a better picture: by March 18 there were 3 Danish travelers in Tibet, trying to run away from the province while their families seek the Embassy for information (which they also don't have). Since the beginning of the protests, no foreigners are allowed in Tibet and I heard comments that this policy could continue until after the Olympics in August. I met a couple of days ago a Colombian backpacker, who flew to Beijing to find out she couldn't travel to Tibet. Without possibilities to reach Katmandu in Nepal (the flights from Beijing stop in Lhasa and no foreigners are allowed in the plane), she was going to fly from Hong Kong instead, desappointed with her bad luck.

Being part of the AIESEC community in Shanghai, I would definitely expect lots of dialogue going on about this situation. After all, AIESEC is about cultural understanding and challenging our world views. There were over 50 messages on the local list between March 18-20. I wqas surprised to read the different points of view until I got shocked by a message, posted by a Chinese person I knew quite well (and I trust her words): "Now has called for a stop of discussion sensitive issues here. Because it might affect AIESEC's existence and even our personal safety - which is sensible. I just want to point out, when things happen, those who are concerned also live in the fear of disappearing, including myself." It happens that Google hosts the list, where many foreigner interns and local Chinese AIESECers participate, and the list contents are open for anyone to search and find it.

I think this is just the beginning... and the Big Brother is watching me...

Hugs from China!

Beijing and beyond

I have one week off from school, starting today. Chinese people don't celebrate Easter but the Danes take the whole week off. At least it gives me some opportunities for adventures in China!

I found a partner, Torben, and we are leaving in a couple of hours by train to Beijing. 13 hours, "hard-sleeper" as they call it. Tomorrow I will meet with Paulo Egídio, old friend from AIESEC Florianópolis who moved to China 3 years ago, studied Mandarin and started to work for a Brazilian company here. Looking forward to meet him again! I arrived at the train station at 9.30am and at 10.30am we will play football! After that, a Brazilian barbacue (churrasco) with caipirinha! That's VIP treatment!

My plans for this trip is to relax but also get some adventure adrenaline back in my blood, so the idea is to mix of bit of each in a cheap-as-possible scheme: Beijing, The Great Wall, and some locations outside Beijing, in Henan province. I'm still checking on Lonely Planet for a good off-the-beaten-track destination...

I expect Internet to be limited the next week but I will try to write here a few times...