Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
interlude: kandido have a new tattoo
9 hours of pain with fever and diarrhea... but the tattoo is beautiful... a tantric/tao full of lucky symbols (skulls), Tibet symbolism, tangkra culture... etc... and more to discover in the eyes of the looker. this is the results of the teaching of the monk, my teacher Conte Nuvola, Osho, the tibetan book of the dead...sould be erotic, could be spiritual... are you sure that the two things are really different???
chapeter whocares: at the end the motor bike... black magic!!!
A complete check before leaving (with our friends in Lhasa)... and...
On the road again
Facts:
a motor bike, a tank full of petrol, a cheap chinese tent, two black helmets, and a long dirty road in front of them with two mountain passes at more than 5000m:
two arrows ready to fly: no more words... the engine is roaring!!arggggGGGgghhhh
are also facts:
the motorbike is 4 years old, there are many police check points on the road, and the drivers never owned a motorbike, and the ownership documents is in chinese.
but at the end what are facts if not just writer's points of view!!
the adventure is started
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Chapter idonknowanymore: chinese censorship strikes kandido's blog!
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE SEE THIS BLOG IN CHINA.
GREAT CHINA! I REALLY ESTEEM YOU!!
REALLY POWERFULLY, AND CARING ABOUT THE INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE IN HOMELAND !!!
GREAT CHINA! I REALLY ESTEEM YOU!!
REALLY POWERFULLY, AND CARING ABOUT THE INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE IN HOMELAND !!!
WITH LOVE KANDIDO
ps
what i am seeing here is a lot a good things brought by the chinese people. i see chinese and tibetans leaving toghether with not many problems. i see chinese and tibetans struggling for the same things. both having hard life. and i see a reciprocal respect.
yes, tibetan are really, really, really religiuos. the language and the religion is so deep in their culture that forbidding it would mean an act of violence against them.
in real life there is a peace that from the political point of view doesn't exist...
but at the end what is good or bad? sometimes falling down can bring you to find a treasure...
let's choose the buddist way to see things...
peace
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Chapter whatever: the zen and the art of buying a motorbike
deWhere kandido started to think about buying a motorbike is hard to say. For sure he came back to Dali with a black biker shirt and the idea in mind.
- i have enough of rotten buses, dirty trains and hitchhiking...i want to be able to stop where i want, sleep where i want and go where i want. freedom! that's the name of my bike...
so he started frequenting second hand markets and discussing like an expert about brakes and engines with the sellers... the funny thing was that he couldn't speak chinese and his knowledge about mechanics was very poor.
for a lucky coincidence Flee, one of his friend, needed money and wanted to sell the motorbike that another friends give to him...
the motor bike was not looking really fit, but kandido was thinking that was discouraging every possible thief to steal it! ah, another detail, the bike didn't have number plate (but this doesn't seem a serious problem in china) and was stolen.
so after a week or riding on the road of Dali one night the police stopped him and his travelmate (a kid of 4 year old that was speaking a bettr chinese than kandido).
- you have documents?
- pu yao (i don't have!)
- driving licence?
- mmmh pu yao!
- this bike has all the engine serial nuber rubbed away... is it stolen?
- puzitao (i don't know)...
and with this two answer kandido's Chinese language ability were over.
also the bike was over. the police took it and brought it away...
- is the police bad?- Birdie asked to kandido
- no i don't think so...
can we have a lift to home? kandido asked the police man...
- of course! crawl in...
- have you seem police is not that bad... smiled kandido.
Birdie asked to the policeman if he could turn the colorful lights on... it was one of his dream being on a police car!
as answer the policeman turn on the light inside the car...
- yeah... may be they are good... but they don't seem particularly bright! - birdie said toughly.
kandido dreams are hard to fade away... the freedom allowed by motor bike was still buzzing in his mind... so in Lhasa he and Mogu tried again...
- this time we'll be regular: no more stolen bikes... we make all the documents... insurance, ownership... and i'll drive to nepal, india up to italy...
so first kandido checked if he could be the owner of a chinese motor bike and if he could drive up to Nepal with no problem.
no problem everybody says.
but reality is different... chinese bureaucracy is a big monster with thousands hands and you don't know which one to shake... you can do everything... in theory... in practice it is impossible. so after one day passed at the motorization police, and from a bike shop to another... kandido enthusiasm was under the ground level.
- what to do then? this time we tried seriously to be honest. ok, we need the insurance ... but what about the ownership document? how come that you buy a bike but you can't prove that's your? why life is so complicated for laway (strangers)?
- oh man, no problem...- replied the chinese friend that was heping them- here in china no one really cares. you can drive the motorbike even if the owner is a perfect unknown... phone one of the numbers you read painted on the walls around town... they will make all the papers you need... and they will look exactly like the real ones!!!
the kandido walked out thoughtful... he never liked illegal things... they never ends up well (as the episode of the stolen bike showed up!)
a little sciuscia' (polishing shoes girl) approached him:
- hello!
- hello... replied automatically kandido
- what's your name? -the girls smiled at him with two charming black eyes.
- kandido... and yours?
- are you happy? i hope you are happy!
a full smile appeared on the face on the girl. as domino effect a big smiled filled up the heart of kandido...
- yeah! now i am super happy... he sang jumpily.. thank you!
he turned the head and the girl was not there anymore...
- hallo?
- hallo. what do you need?
- an ownership paper for a motorbike for two laway
- no problem. one night and 150y (15 euros!) call me agin and i'll give you the instructions...
- i have enough of rotten buses, dirty trains and hitchhiking...i want to be able to stop where i want, sleep where i want and go where i want. freedom! that's the name of my bike...
so he started frequenting second hand markets and discussing like an expert about brakes and engines with the sellers... the funny thing was that he couldn't speak chinese and his knowledge about mechanics was very poor.
for a lucky coincidence Flee, one of his friend, needed money and wanted to sell the motorbike that another friends give to him...
the motor bike was not looking really fit, but kandido was thinking that was discouraging every possible thief to steal it! ah, another detail, the bike didn't have number plate (but this doesn't seem a serious problem in china) and was stolen.
so after a week or riding on the road of Dali one night the police stopped him and his travelmate (a kid of 4 year old that was speaking a bettr chinese than kandido).
- you have documents?
- pu yao (i don't have!)
- driving licence?
- mmmh pu yao!
- this bike has all the engine serial nuber rubbed away... is it stolen?
- puzitao (i don't know)...
and with this two answer kandido's Chinese language ability were over.
also the bike was over. the police took it and brought it away...
- is the police bad?- Birdie asked to kandido
- no i don't think so...
can we have a lift to home? kandido asked the police man...
- of course! crawl in...
- have you seem police is not that bad... smiled kandido.
Birdie asked to the policeman if he could turn the colorful lights on... it was one of his dream being on a police car!
as answer the policeman turn on the light inside the car...
- yeah... may be they are good... but they don't seem particularly bright! - birdie said toughly.
kandido dreams are hard to fade away... the freedom allowed by motor bike was still buzzing in his mind... so in Lhasa he and Mogu tried again...
- this time we'll be regular: no more stolen bikes... we make all the documents... insurance, ownership... and i'll drive to nepal, india up to italy...
so first kandido checked if he could be the owner of a chinese motor bike and if he could drive up to Nepal with no problem.
no problem everybody says.
but reality is different... chinese bureaucracy is a big monster with thousands hands and you don't know which one to shake... you can do everything... in theory... in practice it is impossible. so after one day passed at the motorization police, and from a bike shop to another... kandido enthusiasm was under the ground level.
- what to do then? this time we tried seriously to be honest. ok, we need the insurance ... but what about the ownership document? how come that you buy a bike but you can't prove that's your? why life is so complicated for laway (strangers)?
- oh man, no problem...- replied the chinese friend that was heping them- here in china no one really cares. you can drive the motorbike even if the owner is a perfect unknown... phone one of the numbers you read painted on the walls around town... they will make all the papers you need... and they will look exactly like the real ones!!!
the kandido walked out thoughtful... he never liked illegal things... they never ends up well (as the episode of the stolen bike showed up!)
a little sciuscia' (polishing shoes girl) approached him:
- hello!
- hello... replied automatically kandido
- what's your name? -the girls smiled at him with two charming black eyes.
- kandido... and yours?
- are you happy? i hope you are happy!
a full smile appeared on the face on the girl. as domino effect a big smiled filled up the heart of kandido...
- yeah! now i am super happy... he sang jumpily.. thank you!
he turned the head and the girl was not there anymore...
- hallo?
- hallo. what do you need?
- an ownership paper for a motorbike for two laway
- no problem. one night and 150y (15 euros!) call me agin and i'll give you the instructions...
... will our heroes find a cheap motor bike at the lhasa second hand market... and will they manage to have the false papers and cross the border with nepal???
you will see in the next episode!!
you will see in the next episode!!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Chapter whatever: kandido and Mogu in Tibet
Kandido swimming in the Mekong cold waters 
Mogu in Lhasa in front of the carving rocks of Chakpori hill
the two hitchhikers' angels
Preparing for the Olympic games
Manifestation for Olympic games in Lhasa
Monk watching the Olympic gamnes manifestation
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Chapter whatever: kandido and mogu in tibet
Kids' coming backlfrom school on a tractor!
Tibetan house
On the road
kandido the evil dead
Mugu resting after a day of restless walking
Street of Lhasa
om mame padme humFriday, October 19, 2007
Chapter whatever: Hitchhiking in tibet, without money (only 20 euros) without permit in an area forbidden to tourist.
Hitchhiking in tibet, without money (only 20 euros) without permit in an area forbidden to tourist.
The stupid are lucky (austrian saying)!
Hot springs, beautiful and generous monks, beautiful tibetan people, mountain pass at 5100m, limpid skyes and incredible stary nights, and two chinese angels: that’s the incredible beauty of this travel. Everything was there for kandido and mogu when they needed: food, houses, lifts… the magic was all around them. They crossed many police checks without problem, just walking throught without hiding. Only one night, during a retata of the police looking for lamas they had been cought. Few rows of military fully armed was standing around the cheap hotel, checking room by room for monks and local people. The atmosfere was tense. Many monks were lined up outside, waiting for a police track to bring them away. Away where? (this is what chinese gouvernmanet doesn't want to show to the foreigners?) Kandido and mogu were there. Out of place like always.
-you can’t stay here. This area is forbidden to foregneirs! The policeman was screeming at them.
- you have to go back out of tibet. You are not allowed to be here.
- but I don’t have money to go back, and mogu’s visa runs out in few days!
- but you must! You MUST go back and gfo back to lhasa by airplane!
- why am I not allowed to stay here?
- I don’t know! You are not allowed to stay here tha’s it. you must go back tomorrow morning. Or something will happen to you!
- and if I will not…?
- you will or I will find you…
The morning after kandido and mogu, hitchhiked few tracks carrying sand, a broken trucks carrying hundreads screaming and shitting chickens, and at the end the two angels’ car.
A buddhist story: the wise man doesn’t care about luck and not luck… these words are measningless.
Kandido and mogu slept in a little hotel out of town trying to run away from the police.
We are so lucky to have found this place. Far from the police checks. And tomorrow morning we will find easily a lift. It’s a good road, quite trafficated
The morning after they walk 6 hours with no cars that stopped.
Then after a freezing bath in the mekong. (mekong springs in tibet like many of the holyset rivers of Asia!) They found a lift from 3 guys looking to buy a yak.
We are so lucky to have found them.
But the guys were hanging around with their car senseless and finally left them again in the middle of nowhere under a killing sun.
Oh fuck again here!
Finally the two angels appears with a luxourius car with fetish black leather seats. Two young monks were with them. So lucky.
But the girls brought them in a hotel where the police makes controlls fro monks. And catched them.
There is no luck or unluck. The wise man takes the events for what they are, with no thinking about the future. Life is so unpredictable!
In Lhasa reading the lonely plant they discovered that the road they did, was dangerous, full of controlls, parctically impossible… but you know lonely planet always tend to exagere the risks!!
The stupid are lucky (austrian saying)!
Hot springs, beautiful and generous monks, beautiful tibetan people, mountain pass at 5100m, limpid skyes and incredible stary nights, and two chinese angels: that’s the incredible beauty of this travel. Everything was there for kandido and mogu when they needed: food, houses, lifts… the magic was all around them. They crossed many police checks without problem, just walking throught without hiding. Only one night, during a retata of the police looking for lamas they had been cought. Few rows of military fully armed was standing around the cheap hotel, checking room by room for monks and local people. The atmosfere was tense. Many monks were lined up outside, waiting for a police track to bring them away. Away where? (this is what chinese gouvernmanet doesn't want to show to the foreigners?) Kandido and mogu were there. Out of place like always.
-you can’t stay here. This area is forbidden to foregneirs! The policeman was screeming at them.
- you have to go back out of tibet. You are not allowed to be here.
- but I don’t have money to go back, and mogu’s visa runs out in few days!
- but you must! You MUST go back and gfo back to lhasa by airplane!
- why am I not allowed to stay here?
- I don’t know! You are not allowed to stay here tha’s it. you must go back tomorrow morning. Or something will happen to you!
- and if I will not…?
- you will or I will find you…
The morning after kandido and mogu, hitchhiked few tracks carrying sand, a broken trucks carrying hundreads screaming and shitting chickens, and at the end the two angels’ car.
A buddhist story: the wise man doesn’t care about luck and not luck… these words are measningless.
Kandido and mogu slept in a little hotel out of town trying to run away from the police.
We are so lucky to have found this place. Far from the police checks. And tomorrow morning we will find easily a lift. It’s a good road, quite trafficated
The morning after they walk 6 hours with no cars that stopped.
Then after a freezing bath in the mekong. (mekong springs in tibet like many of the holyset rivers of Asia!) They found a lift from 3 guys looking to buy a yak.
We are so lucky to have found them.
But the guys were hanging around with their car senseless and finally left them again in the middle of nowhere under a killing sun.
Oh fuck again here!
Finally the two angels appears with a luxourius car with fetish black leather seats. Two young monks were with them. So lucky.
But the girls brought them in a hotel where the police makes controlls fro monks. And catched them.
There is no luck or unluck. The wise man takes the events for what they are, with no thinking about the future. Life is so unpredictable!
In Lhasa reading the lonely plant they discovered that the road they did, was dangerous, full of controlls, parctically impossible… but you know lonely planet always tend to exagere the risks!!
Chapter whatever: Chinese Punk
Strange China:
The official badge of the Lijinag snow mountain music festival (a sort of chinese woodstock http://www.neocha.com/-/web/xueshanfes.jsp) that was selled everywhere as a gangja leaves on the top. In Lijing gangjia grows naturally all over the field. People smoke it in bars freely. But china has severe law agaist its use!
The chinese pogo. In front of the stage before every song people makes a big empty space: 10 meter large. Then, people facing one against the other waiting the starting of the song. What happens is a big crash, like two armies fronting one the other. People run and jump on the others. Full violence. No pity.
People does haed-banging syncronized, all togheter, arm in arm, in lines. In a sort of military order. All done in group. No individual dencers!
Kandido, as foreigner (laway), was raised all aver the heads, made flying from hand to hand over the massive people till he arrived to the hole, where he crashed on the ground badly. Loosing his money and shufflyng some bones.
-laway are you ok?
- I was better before when my bones were in the right place!
After the main group (ak-47 check it out http://www.neocha.com/ak47), a banch of friends went on the stage and started to improvvise some raggae. Some of them were professional musicians, some people met in the bar the evening before. They invented songs without sense, for more then half an hours... before finishing the ideas!!
The official badge of the Lijinag snow mountain music festival (a sort of chinese woodstock http://www.neocha.com/-/web/xueshanfes.jsp) that was selled everywhere as a gangja leaves on the top. In Lijing gangjia grows naturally all over the field. People smoke it in bars freely. But china has severe law agaist its use!
The chinese pogo. In front of the stage before every song people makes a big empty space: 10 meter large. Then, people facing one against the other waiting the starting of the song. What happens is a big crash, like two armies fronting one the other. People run and jump on the others. Full violence. No pity.
People does haed-banging syncronized, all togheter, arm in arm, in lines. In a sort of military order. All done in group. No individual dencers!
Kandido, as foreigner (laway), was raised all aver the heads, made flying from hand to hand over the massive people till he arrived to the hole, where he crashed on the ground badly. Loosing his money and shufflyng some bones.
-laway are you ok?
- I was better before when my bones were in the right place!
After the main group (ak-47 check it out http://www.neocha.com/ak47), a banch of friends went on the stage and started to improvvise some raggae. Some of them were professional musicians, some people met in the bar the evening before. They invented songs without sense, for more then half an hours... before finishing the ideas!!
kandido and lama in a car towards Lhasa
Monday, October 1, 2007
chapther whatever: kandido in dali
pelgrims on holy mountains
dali roofs
Chinese lessons on the door
Climbing on the kitchen
Gambliel watching out the window
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