Bouldering in Daocheng, Western Sichuan

Turtle Face

In brief, like many PC China volunteers I have been doing a combination of traveling and working for the past month and a half, not once returning to Wanzhou. In that time I went bouldering in Western Sichuan, visited a student in his village in southern Chongqing, taught Chongqing middles school teachers how to teach differently, went to Shanghai, visited another student at his home in Chongqing city, and led EcoCamp with a host of outstanding volunteers. This post will only cover the first 1.5 weeks of my summer. 

Rain Gods

In June, my site mate, Gabby and I made plans to find the legendary boulders at Karakul Lake a few hours outside of Kashgar, Xinjiang. We wanted remoteness, new culture, camping, mountains, and boulders. But, our plans were thwarted when PC travel to Xinjiang Province was barred due to the recent attacks in the provincial capital, Urumqi. Last winter I met a professional climber in Chengdu named Mike Dobie. He has been developing trad climbing in Li Ming, Yunnan for a handful of years and said that he had a bouldering development in Daocheng, Western Sichuan. He added that he didn't think the Daocheng development would ever catch because of its extreme proximity to any major city, the poor roads and infrastructure leading out there, and the day or two that it takes for your body to get acclimated. Daocheng was the perfect substitute. 

Gabby's problem on the warm up boulder

Traveling to DaoCheng:

Getting to Daocheng (稻城) and back is a whole trip in itself. Our plan was to take a 9 hour bus from Chengdu to Kangding (康定). Stay the night in Kangding. And then a bus in the morning to Daocheng, because there is only one bus a day from Kangding to Daocheng and it leaves super early in the morning. 

We rented a minivan  with some young Chinese urbanites we met at our hostel. In Chinese minivans for hire are called, Bread Car

There are only a few buses a day from Chengdu to Kangding and they leave between 7am from Xinanmen Bus Station (西南们车站). To ensure that you get a ticket, you should try to buy your tickets the day before, probably sometime in the afternoon. A nice and affordable hostel, Traffic Inn, is around the corner from the bus station if you need to stay the night. 

We got to Kangding around dinner time. The tickets for the next day were sold out so we resorted to renting a van. It was less than 200kuai (30USD) per person because we shared the van with some Chinese people. Our hostel arranged it for us. We did not book our hostel in Kangding in advance. With the increase of tourism in Western Sichuan, I recommend you book one in advance. In the morning we hopped in a van headed for Daocheng. During the 12 hour ride we experienced just about all four seasons and climates at elevations ranging from 8000 to 15600 feet. I wouldn't be surprised if the Kangding-Daocheng ride becomes listed as one of the most beautiful car trips in the world. One thing that should be noted is that the roads are very narrow, often broken or destroyed due to erosion and the pavement regularly freezing and thawing, also about a third of the road is dirt, so bring a plastic bag even if you don't get motion sickness. 

Pitstops Between Chengdu and DaoCheng:

Since there are only two major highways connecting Chengdu to Western Sichuan, year round you will see Chinese bike trekkers riding through to Tibet. One pitstop at 14600ft 

 Squares of colored paper with prayers scrawled are thrown into the wind like prayer flags flying

 Herder in skinny jeans pulls horse across highway to be watered. Our driver stopped so he could wash the minivan

After breaking through the extremely dense and floral mountains of the Sichuan Basin the geography instantly changes to high altitude pasture. The herders here live in tents and yaks usually graze unperturbed 

Some folks we met driving from Gansu Province, while we were stopped for road construction

 Biking and Exploring in Daocheng:

Just before reaching Daocheng it started snowing. Driving the high mountain passes on narrow slick roads was terrifying. We arrived at dusk. 

Once your reach Daocheng it instantly feels like you have left China. The people are mostly ethnic Tibetans. They are tall and their skin is brown. The men dress like cowboys: long matted hair, gold teeth, and cowboy hats, only each has his own string of prayer beads. The women dress in the long traditional black garb, covering almost every inch of skin. If it were not for the modern face mask to protect from the dust and sun, you would think they were transported from 1870's American wild west, for their big bonnet hats create a complete image. Above is the traditional Tibetan yak's butter tea. We followed our Chinese van friends to their hostel and shared a room. 

The next morning Gabby and I rented bikes. Our goal was to find Rubuchaka Village (茹布查卡). Dobie's bouldering guide marks all of its developments in the valley. Prayer slabs are placed to face the sky 

Urban pigs

 We ended up riding the wrong way, and none of the locals seems to have heard of the place. No a bad place to get lost

 A mute ice cream man rides his bike through the valley

 We found the valley!! A women walking on the road led us there. The valley is very remote and a little difficult to find if not driven 

 Turns out there numerous families living in the village have home stay capabilities. Gabby and I arranged a deal where we pay 80kuai (12USD) per day, which includes a bed, three meals, and one hot spring bath. We didn't know this until we got to Rubuchaka, but the whole village recently capitalized on the hot springs running through it. Despite the hot springs and the beauty of Rubuchaka, there are still few visitors. While making a deal with the family (some pictured above, can also see hats), it was pretty clear that they had never had anybody stay there before for more than one night, or ever. They are amazing people. We recommend that you stay at their establishment. Their house is fairly big, and located in the back on the village. They have eight beds to rent. Most of their food is vegetable and noodle (dough) based and it is so good. They also have a steady supply of Tibetan Yak's butter tea, bread, and Yak cheese. 

 Prayers are chiseled into random rocks throughout the valley. There are two resorts in the valley that flopped (right). It is nice to see that the yaks are taking back the land. 

 Bouldering Area Five:

 Gabby approaching Area Five

 Dobie broke Rubuchaka Valley into five bouldering areas. All five areas surround the village at the bottom of the valley. 

 We didn't bring bouldering pads on this hike so we did more exploring of the massive rock formations and caves than bouldering. We found some amazing things. 

Me warming up

 Our first problem, we call it "Crown." It is located in the back of the Area. It is a long traverse up the edges. V2. 

Area One:

I put up an easy V0 in the morning. 

 My problem is on the left above the pads. Gabby sent one of the problems set is the guide.

If you walk 15 minutes of the ravine in Area One you will find our next problem, "Turtle Face." V2. 

There is endless amounts of bouldering at Rubuchaka. But there are a few things to be aware of. First is that if you are camping or hiking there is almost no cover from the weather. There are thunderstorms and snowstorms, but I think the sun is the most dangerous. Daocheng sits above 14000 feet. With clear skys, which are common, sunshine is less romantic, and more of a powerful radiation at that point. If you are here in the summer you need to bring a hat, long sleeved shirt, pants, gloves (seriously), and lots of sunscreen. We found that carrying an umbrella up there paid off. A benefit of the elevation is that water evaporates so quickly that even in the crazy sun you never really sweat. Oh, and it took me about two full days to get fully acclimated.

 We finished our hike at Castle Peak

 An ariel view of Rubuchaka Village. The road is on the right and our home stay house is on the far left

Bouldering, Camping, and Friends:

 Evan, Kayla (both PCVs), and Nina (grad student is Hong Kong) showed up on the third day. We found this great bouldering in the field behind our inn to warm up on. 

Nina and baby cows

 I believe Dobie's problem on this boulder is called the "Candy Cane Traverse," which traverses from left to right. Gabby and I put up a problem going straight up from where I am sitting called, "Rain Gods," because of the flash hail storm that hit just before we were about to send it. V2. 

Gabby and Kayla after surviving the hail storm

 We hiked back to Castle Peak to camp. Our plan was to boulder, camp, and cook. So we had to carry all of these things up to the top of the mountain. We left the rest of our stuff at the inn for the night. I got fire wood from the inn for free. To carry it to the top I wedged it in between my bouldering pads. Even tough I had five large pieces of fire wood, I think I had the lightest pack. The others had to carry food, water, and gear. You can buy prepackaged food, fresh food, flashlights, and other supplies in Daocheng.

 We hadn't thought of how we were going to cut the firewood until we got to the top of the mountain. We resorted to throwing big rocks at it

 When big rocks didn't work we tried to hack at it with small rocks. And then we discovered leverage, but weren't strong enough :( so we lit our fire in defeat. But, starting a fire at 14000 feet is no simple task. Until we put our five college diplomas together and came up with a plan to divert the wind, I actually though we were going to run out of matches and not eat

Victory. I spent almost all of my time tending the fire and watching the food, probably an hour, and I am very proud of myself for it, because the fire never died once. 

 We had baked potatoes, corn, apples, peanuts, and other things. BTW, don't mix Yak cheese and potatoes... 

 Night. Slow Shutter. Fire

 In the morning we tried to put up some problems. The rock Gabby is on was too sharp to climb

A problem I put up on a random boulder in Area One

 Women walks her cattle back to Rubuchaka

 There is a perpetually spinning prayer wheel on the inside of the structure on the right. The wheel is powered by a stream flowing below it

Last Days at Rubuchaka:

 Dyno...

 ...in the morning

 Gabby putting up a great problem on the left side of the warm up boulder in the backyard of our inn. Starting position

 In the afternoon Gabby and I took the others to a crazy boulder cave we found in Area One. Three new Rubuchakan friends decided to follow us the whole day out

 Fearless

 Climbing over rocks can be difficult with out hands

 All of the boulders that set in place to create this big and fully roofed cavern were once suspended in ice. By chance and magic all of the boulders were magically aligned. Definitely one of the coolest natural things I have ever seen. 

 On our way back to the inn

Doing laundry in the hot springs

 On the last day we biked out to a temple that Gabby and I had seen from the road we got lost on. We asked this family for directions to the temple which you could see in the mountains from this point, but alas, nothing. They speak the Zang (Tibetan) dialect in many parts of western Sichuan. Earlier we were told that every town has its own version of Zang dialect. That white guy in the back is named Peter. We met him there randomly. He teaches Asian culture at a university in the Czech Republic. We also saw him again at a road block where we were stuck for six hours a few days later. 

After not getting directions we decided to ride right at the fork. We ended up reaching a dead end. At the end of the road there was a medium sized house and all of the people living there came out to greet us. All had dark skin an rosey cheeks from the sun. Three generations of women came out. All smiling. Lots of silver and gold teeth. They invited us in for Yak's butter tea, cheese, and bread. We gave the kids Reese's. They scampered back out the door. Jackie Chan Adventures was on TV. 

After riding and walking uphill for over an hour and watching rain and lightening chasing us in the distance we made it to, what ended up being a monastery. This monastery is not for tourists. But they were not going to deny us and after finding out that we walked up the mountain to see what was going on. 

A monk led us into a large room where likely fifty monks were sitting and chanting. They were all wearing their traditional crimson garb with gold. There was clearly a hierarchy to seating in the room. The monk with the biggest headdress sat in an elevated seat at the front center of the room. The older monks were all sitting close to the center of the room, while mostly young monks sat closer to the walls. It was very cold in the temple. They were all wearing red and gold blankets. Next to the old parchment, from which they were reading the incantations in unison, their sat for each monk a bottle of orange sports drink.  

We hung around the monastery for a while. Watching the monks wrestle and stuff. We were invited into the dining hall for Yak's butter tea and cheese. Many things were learned by both parties by the end of the discourse: mainly things about basketball. 

 Riding downhill from the monastery on the dirt road was longest downhill ride I have ever done. I think it was 10 minutes of downhill jumps and a little sliding at full speed. Nina gave Snickers to some kids who were waving to us on the side of the road. 

If you have read this far into my blog post, thanks for reading. We went to more places but I feel its time to stop. I tried to capture some of the best parts of my trip and I hope they inspire you to come and see this amazing part of our world. One fascinating part of this trip for me was that I just happened to be reading an Ecology textbook on precipitation, soil composition, and mountainous climates while I was experiencing the environment described in the book. A night I would read and in the morning I could explain how the environment around me was formed, all the evidence was in front me, next to climb it. I was also fortunate to share this trip with four great personalities and minds, each contributing something different to alter the trip in ways I never imagined. I truly hope that I can continue to have trips of this caliber. 

To Gabby, we had a great year and I don't think there could have been a better way to end it. See you stateside.  

Year One in Peace Corps China

Progress or Tradition

If I remember correctly my grandfather said something along the lines of (in a far more eloquent fashion), "It looks like Jack is only having fun in the Peace Corps. No work, all play." Pop, is right and I have given him good reason to think that, but there is much more to my service than climbing and traveling. This blog post is a response to my grandfather's statement.

Over the past year I have taught fourteen Oral English classes. 561 students. 10hrs. per week. Between thirteen and sixteen weeks per semester. Most of my teaching is centered around pronunciation, reading, speaking confidence, public speaking, and writing basics. For practical reasons, I use themes that revolve around the service sector such as travel and food industries. Last semester I had two lesson preps per week and this semester I have three. Most of the students at my school come from rural farming communities in Chongqing Province. Many of them vie to leave the province for the first time. In the past month there has been in influx of reports in western media (see: The Economist) that show the drastic division of wealth and benefits policy between rural and urban areas in China. In my classes you can tell by the second week who went to a high school in Chongqing proper and who went to a high school in a bordering county. Even though all of my students' English abilities sit at a very low level, there is a clear divide.

Ferguson and I at Ranhou Cat Cafe

One observation that I would like to make public is the unrecognized and unacknowledged brilliance of a handful of my students. I do not know if this is exactly true, but I have been told by Chinese people, unaffiliated with my college, that I teach at one of the lowest ranking colleges in China (although, I think they meant to say lowest ranking colleges in Chongqing Province). China's college selection system is based on one big test (Gaokao) that all senior high school students take annually. For many students in China, your score determines your potential to attain capital in the future. So, if you get a low score on your test you go to a school like mine, a vocational school, and if you get a very high score you will probably go to study in Beijing or Shanghai. But, from my point of view, making it into one of the best universities in China is not all that it is cracked up to be.

While I was studying abroad at Beijing University (China's Harvard, I think ranked #42 in the world), I met a freshman student who got a perfect on her Gaokao. At age 17 (she skipped a year), she was thrown into a ten year Ph.D program in biology. Coming from the poor yet coal rich Shananxi Province, her family was thrilled to see her off. Her great achievement means total social mobility and most likely an assurance of fortune, but as you can predict there are great costs. She knew every single step in the next ten years of her life. She knew exactly how hard her work was going to be and exactly how much energy she was going to need to exert. If you can imagine, she probably started studying at least nine hours a day by the age of 6 and was only going to stop studying at the age of 27. That is 21 years of hard studying.

Spring Flowers on Taibai Mountain. The mountain was named after one of China's most renowned ancient poets, Li Bai. One of his most famous poems is titled, Waking From Drunkenness on a Spring Day, oh, and, Drinking Alone by Moonlight.

I do not think she wanted a life of certainty and complacency, but she has a family to carry. It was not her choice to make.  My students have an entirely different situation. They laugh, smile, yell at each other, hit each other, joke around, flirt, and tease each other all of the time. They actually seem happy every second, unless we are in class (no AC) and the walk to class is like swimming through humidity and the heat is blazing (they never have AC). Digressing from my aside, for me, one of the most fascinating things about teaching at a low level college is discovering the brilliant students that have been marginalized by the Gaokao testing system.

A hand full of my students are super smart, but like many people all over the world, they are just really bad at testing and never received any type of handicap or help. So, some of them will end up at a third tier college and just be really bored. Even though a few of my former students dropped out after the first semester for financial reasons (it costs 1639USD per year to attend my college), or they have to take care of a sick grandparent, or one girl needs to 'find herself' and is traveling, they still seem happy when I talk to them. One great thing about being a teacher in the Peace Corps is that you are encouraged/supposed to have a friend/teacher-friend/student relationship with your students, versus a teacher-student, or professor-student, or authority-pupil relationship. It means getting involved in their lives, for example, many volunteers stay at their students homes during holidays or vacations. I will stay at a student's home this summer.

The new Multicultural Totem Pole Park in Wanzhou. All totem poles are hand chiseled

Even though teaching in the classroom is my primary objective as a Peace Corps China Volunteer and is something I work very hard at, I think most of my impact in my community happens outside of the classroom, in small bits. Outside of the classroom, my amazing site mate, Gabby, and I lead English Corner (like an English Club), run and modify a fully functioning English Library (that Gabby created all by herself!), tutor students for speech competitions, tutor students on an individual level, go to weekend events and lunches with faculty, cook big dinners with groups of students, talk with students (also on social media), go to student led events on campus (art shows, basketball tournaments, and singing and dance competitions), have Hiking Club, take students hiking, go bouldering with students, open relations with a local orphanage for visits, build a greenhouse on campus, and the list goes on and on. It is in all of these small things that there is impact that adds up. Earlier this semester one of my Tourism students opened up to me about her boy problems: "Teacher, a boy loves me, but I despise him. What to do?" One of my boys asked me, "Teacher, I want girlfriend. How to have him?" (face palm. . .). These small little day to day, moment to moment things are where I see my impact the most. Impact outside of my school's community much different and is a topic for a different day. 

As much as I love what I am doing here, all of the activities above add up quickly and take up a lot of time out of my day. Usually I wake up between 5:30 and 6:30am, and go to bed at around 1:00-2:00am. If I want to read, study Chinese (which I need to do a lot more of), write guitar songs, talk to friends, blog, watch a TV show, go biking, hiking, bouldering, climbing, weekend stints, or explore I have to sacrifice something, and sleep is usually the first to go. Like many Peace Corps sites, our work is not nine to five, we work 24 hours a day. So even though my work may be all fun, I am always working towards something. I believe many PVCs are in a similar situation. 

Some Random Activities:

Jiaozi (dumpling) Making Party with some Tourism Students. 

Sometimes I will take a student bouldering or to scout for boulders

To get up this wall the peasants use this rope to haul themselves up. These little ropes are all over certain sections of the mountains. The longest rope I had to pull myself up was probably 20ft. That specific rope system was intricate. Three ropes were used to distribute your body weight on different trees. 

Found a junk yard at the top of a mountain with a student while hiking

Gabby and I visiting my Wanzhou host family. Most of the information I know about Wanzhou comes from my host mother (Fan Laoshi). She is one of those people who is always talking and at about a mile a minute. Never a boring moment with her. That day I learned my host sister is amazing at the Guzheng (Chinese harp), and she is self taught. One of my most fond days with them. . . Fan Laoshi, told me on saturday to be ready to go to lunch at 11:00 the next day. At 9:30 thunderous rapping on my steel door, "Jack'r, come to have lunchy!" After driving through one of the factory districts in Wanzhou we made it to the restaurant. We are with more family members. All the men are smoking except my host father. He has a heart condition and the other men were making fun of him for it in jest. He always get poked at when he doesn't drink or smoke. The dishes are delivered. Every single bowl containing some assortment of vegetables and meat. All of the bowls filled with little crimson paddies. I eat a few and then ask Fan Laoshi what it is. She starts slapping her veins. 

Blood Restaurant. 

More Jiaozi making with students. 

Gabby and I at Wanzhou Square. Babawu or Chinese Square Dancing is a popular form of exercise and activity for old people in certain parts of China. They dance at night to avoid the heat. It is a nightly event. There are probably a hundred dance groups scattered throughout Wanzhou. They all dance together following one choreography. Young people get super embarrassed when we try to join the dancing.

One students asked me for individual tutoring. She was an 'Animal Feed' major, but she wanted to work at a hotel instead. Even though her English skills were pretty good, she needed a background in hotel English. She has since left our school. 

Hanging on a ceiling at Hiking Club

Another Jiaozi Party. Nam (left) is a city mate. It is really nice having other volunteers live so close. We come to each others events and help out, merge events so our students can make new friends, on occasion. 

Gabby and I were told by faculty that we should attend an Earth Day event at the basketball courts. It ended up being a basketball tournament. . . If you have been to China you will know that basketball is the most popular sport in China. Not ping pong or tennis. Basketball was the first western sport allowed in China in the late 70s. Many boys in China, rural and urban, know all of the NBA teams and stars. The boys also love WWE, but I think it is more of a high school thing. 

I wrote a song a played it at the English Corner Talent Show. They got a taste of math rock and loved it

Hiking with students 

At our school's English Speaking Competition, 6 of my 15 students that entered placed in the top 7 including 1st place (Gabby and I have both taught her). I am so proud of my students. 

Shirley and Carrie did over a month of English training with Gabby and I for a competition in CQ proper. We trained for four hours per week. Carrie has her bf totally whipped. They are so funny together. 

Hiking Club 

Went to a student's house for lunch one weekend. He lives in a mud house that his grandfather built 80 years ago. His grandfather said that he is now an unskilled worker and unemployable. He once built mud houses, for about 1.40USD (a long time ago before inflation and the rise of RMB) per day and now nobody wants mud houses anymore. His skills are now obsolete. Before listening to him, I didn't understand how one is or becomes unskilled, and becomes a part of the huge unskilled labor force in Chongqing. 

While scouting for Hiking Club I came across an excellent camp site. It even has a little fire pit made of stones. 

Traditional Chinese music is played in Peace Plaza in downtown Wanzhou

Hiking Club

With some Logistics students

Trying to put up a bouldering problem 

I hope I've have wiped the impression, given at my own negligence, that all I am doing in the Peace Corps is traveling and climbing. My site mate and I are doing a lot of serious and impactful work. Until three weeks ago, literally, every weekend was booked with activities and obligations. Working here does get really tough, but the reward, even though it may be hard to see, is very high. I really enjoy what I am doing in China.