9/22/2007 to 9/24/2007 | TibetBy Micah Hanson, on September 24th, 2007 12► After living on instant noodle soup and going without a shower for 10 days, arriving in the town of Saga with a choice of restaurants and most importantly public pay hot showers, was a welcome sight despite its grubby Chinese buildings. We had no trouble with the authorities this time and arrived […] 9/19/2007 to 9/21/2007 | TibetBy Micah Hanson, on September 21st, 2007 12► After the Kailash kora, we went to Tirthapuri hot springs and monastery associated with Padmasambava, the Indian guru who brought Buddhism to Tibet. Traditionally it is were pilgrims bath after the kora, my travel companions had visions of soaking in a warm pool fed by the springs, I was under no such […] 9/17/2007 to 9/19/2007 | TibetBy Micah Hanson, on September 19th, 2007 12► According to Tibetan Buddhists completing the kora (walking) around the sacred Mt. Kailash rids one’s self of the sins (negative karma) accumulated over a lifetime. It’s a bit tougher than walking in to a confessional at your local Catholic Church, but then again Tibetan Buddhism is not a religion for those wishing […] 9/13/2007 to 9/16/2007 | TibetBy Micah Hanson, on September 16th, 2007 12► I decided to play by the rules for my journey out to western Tibet and the sacred Mout Kailash, home to the Hindu gods, a pilgrimage destination for Hindus, Tibetan Buddhists, and tourists alike. The Chinese government tries its best to make the pilgrimage to this most sacred of mountains as difficult […] 9/1/2007 to 9/12/2007 | TibetBy Micah Hanson, on September 12th, 2007 12► I’m always a little worried when I return to places I really enjoyed, not wanting to spoil those memories. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I road train on the newly completed rail line from Golmud to Lhasa, and the trepidation was not solely because I was traveling without […] 9/9/2007 to 9/10/2007 | TibetBy Micah Hanson, on September 10th, 2007 12► Eager to begin the trek and not knowing how long the first day would take us we left Ganden with out really exploring the monastery. However, it was one of the only major monasteries in the area that I did not visit on my first trip and having seen the amazing setting […] 9/5/2007 to 9/9/2007 | TibetBy Micah Hanson, on September 9th, 2007 12► As of September 1st “the powers that be” here in Tibet (i.e. the Chinese Government) decided that it would now take 10 days to get a permit for Mount Kailash instead of the previous 3 days. Having been to most of the attractions around Lhasa on my pervious trip I jumped at […] 8/16/2007 to 8/17/2007 | China , Gansu , TibetBy Micah Hanson, on August 17th, 2007 12► The small Tibetan town of Langmusi straddles the border between the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Gansu. It has become a popular stop for tourists traveling between these two provinces via the Tibetan plateau due two the two monasteries in town and the surrounding jagged mountain landscape. Of course with the tourist […] 8/15/2007 | China , Gansu , TibetBy Micah Hanson, on August 15th, 2007 From the small Tibetan town of Langmusi seven of us from the hostel I was staying at headed over to the nearby town of Maqu for another horse racing festival. Unlike the races at Litang and Yushu, they had a circular 1 km long track at Maqu. There was only one race in […] 8/13/2007 | China , Sichuan , TibetBy Micah Hanson, on August 13th, 2007 I arrived in Hongyuan just before 9:00 am, a starkly ugly city, especially in contrast to the beautiful scenery that passed by my window on the bus ride into town. But I had known that the attraction here was not the city but rather the grasslands and nomads that surround it. I wasted […] 5:15 to 5:45 am, 8/13/2007 | China , Sichuan , TibetBy Micah Hanson, on August 13th, 2007 I had a bad feeling as I walked down the dark deserted streets of Aba at just after 5:00 am in the morning, and I remember thinking if I was going to get mugged this could be the time; not unheard of in the impoverished knife wielding areas of Tibet. The new bus station […] | Currently in:Chicago, Illinois, USA |