Very Good Business
There's not much to do in Ali (except of course for the shower parlour that seems to double as a brothel). We decide to find a ride out of town as soon as possible. This is more difficult than it sounds. There are no organised buses in this remote part of Tibet. The main forms of transport are jeeps and trucks, and these are a rare commodity at best.
We have little information on Tibet. Having no guide book for the region, we rely on advice from other travellers. Several people have recommended the Guge kingdom to us, just south and west of Ali and we aim for this as our first stop. This kingdom apparently contains ruined Tibetan monestaries, destroyed in the Chinese cultural revolution. One traveller said that the sight 'brought a tear to my eye'. It's a recommendation we take with caution, as many of the local toilets have had the same affect on us.
The road to Guge is bad and trucks avoid it. Our only option is a jeep, but for this to be economical we need to fill it to the brim. We gather a small posse of other travellers. Frank is still with us (though Glover and I are entertaining plans to change this situation). Ben and Riva join us: a Canadian couple from the nightmare bus ride from Kharkgilik to Ali. Two Japanese guys, also from the bus, team up with us as well. One is called Onish, the other I still don't know the name of despite him telling me several hundred times.
We are looking for the bus depot when we are approached by two stocky looking guys. One is Russian, the other is Polish (but living in Canada). They have that solid Eastern European look - chiselled chins and ox like bone structure. The Polish guy introduces himself as Karol. His English is good but he has a thick, heavy accent and for a moment I wonder if he is actually a cyborg sent by the Chinese government to Terminate illegal foreigners.
The Russian introduces himself as Victor. He is friendly, loud, and excitable. His English is broken but that doesn't hold him back. "I am Victor! I am very Happy! I am English Student!" He yells each phrase, and repeats them to every person in the room, even the Chinese staff, who look like they are ready to call the police or possibly the army.
These two strange men explain to us in hurried but definite terms that they are about to organise a jeep or possibly hire a bus to take them to Guge and then on to the next stop on our list, Mount Kailash. I am hastily elected spokesman for our small band (by virtue of being the slowest to back away from the Russians at the time) and sent along with them for the negotiations.
We take a cab. Victor speaks some Chinese, though he again seems to make up for his lack of vocabulary with extra volume. He hollars at the poor cab driver explaining that we want to go to the Antelope transport office. The driver seems too afraid to understand. Victor continues yelling. Karol produces a business card of the office and shows this to the driver commanding him in English.
The cab driver, bombarded with directions freezes like a deer caught in headlights. Victor and Karol alternate between yelling at the driver and arguing with each other in Russian. After a while Karol turns to me and says, "He must be finished idiot not to understand where we want to go". At this stage I'm thinking the guy is a 'finished idiot' not to have ditched his car and legged it for the mountains.
Eventually the directions are sorted and we end up at the Antelope transport office. This is the only company in town capable of servicing our needs. Karol and Victor have been given the details of several contacts and as they bundle out of the cab they storm through the garage yelling the name of their contact to anyone and everyone in their path. It is amazingly effective and we are quickly ushered into an air conditioned office.
The boss of the Ali branch of Antelope is here lounging in a cushy leather chair. He eyes us up shrewdly, obviously a keen businessman. He speaks excellent English and Karol conducts the negotiations with him in English, rather than using Victor's Chinese.
There is only one jeep available, seating (a very optimistic) twelve. The Russians are a group of eight, leaving four seats for my team. The logistics of the seating is a problem for later however - Karol sets to work on the man for a price. The initial quote is 4,000 yuan for the three days needed. Karol is not impressed, and explains that the price should most definitely be lower.
A display of bargaining prowess, the likes I have never seen before, ensues. The boss is no push over, and he knows he has the only goods in town. Karol hits him from every angle. Karol explains that they are coming with a full truck load of tourists and that this is very good business for Antelope. He also points out that they are friends with the director of Antelope, Paul Chang.
The whole time Karol is calmly negotiating, Victor paces the office, parroting key words from Karol's sale pitch. "Very Good Business!", he yells, "My Friend, Paul Chang!". Karol carries on as if Victor is not there. It's an impressive act and I stay on the sideline, not sure whether to laugh or hide.
The boss is beginning to feel the pressure so he trys a new tactic. He explains that the price is up to the driver and not his decision. The driver is called in, and the brilliance of this plan is revealed - the driver speaks not a word of English.
This doesn't stop Karol and Victor. Victor pulls out the heavy guns, "I am Student! I have little money!". Karol starts writting numbers on a piece of paper, and attempts to shake hands with the driver. "Cheap very good! Expensive very bad!", Victor hammers the driver with undeniable logic. This bombardment has started before the boss can even explain the situation to the driver. The poor guy has no idea what is going on.
Karol pulls out the deal clencher. He wraps the little driver in a bear hug and lifts him from the ground. Victor grabs the stunned driver's hand and shakes it, which is obviously better than a written contract for a Russian. As Karol lowers the confused driver to the ground, he slaps him on the arse for good measure. The boss has given up by this point and the Russians and I walk out with a price of 3,600 yuan. I'm not sure if it's imagined or real, but I hear the solid click of the door lock sliding into place as we leave the office.
I return to the team and explain that we have only four seats for the jeep the next day. There is no clean way to split the team and eventually we decide the best option is to give the seats to an Aussie family that had just arrived. We figure that with two young kids they would have more trouble than us travelling from Ali. It's obviously a charitable offer, though I'm pretty sure most of the group were more than a little scared of travelling with the Russians for three days.
So we are back at square one, stuck in Ali with no way out. Eventually we find an indepndent businessman willing to take the seven of us in his jeep. Onish, who speaks Chinese, does the bargaining and I can't help noticing the difference between the Russian and Japanese bargaining methods. Obviously the Russians got the better price. I consider bear hugging the driver myself, but my Polish genes prove to be too diluted.
The next morning we wait in our hotel foyer at the designated time. Our driver is a no show. We give him till midday but he fails to appear. Things are not going well. Unwilling to spend another day in Ali, we comb the streets. We find the main post office. It is possible to hitch a ride in the back of one of the huge green mail trucks, using the mail bags as seating. Unfortunately however, the next truck is not due out for a few days.
Eventually we find a mini-bus willing to take us directly to Mount Kailash. It means missing the Guge kingdom, but it's really our only option. We climb aboard and settle in for the ten hour trip.
The landscape starts out much the same, barren, rocky mountains and open plateaus. The further south and east that we travel, the more the land begins to come alive. There are no trees, but lush green grass starts to cover the plateau. Through the dirty bus windows we see large weasel like creatures scurry into tunnels and smaller mice follow suite. In the distance four wild deer leap across the open plain with nowhere to hide. Overhead three massive eagles soar in time with the bus, escorting it along the road through the windy cliffs.
As night begins to settle in we finally arrive at the small, primitive town of Darchen. It's a nothing town of lowset, mud-brick houses. Overhead however, looms the reason for the town's existance - the snowy cap of Mount Kailash. This solitary mountain, rising to 6,700 meters high, is one of the most sacred sites in Hindu mythology. This is the home of Shiva, the greatest of the Hindu Gods.
Hindus believe that by walking around this mountain you can wipe away a lifetime of sins, clearing your Kharma for your next incarnation. Obviously this is an opportunity Glover and myself can not aford to miss. We surely have more than a few outstanding Kharma debts.
We have little information on Tibet. Having no guide book for the region, we rely on advice from other travellers. Several people have recommended the Guge kingdom to us, just south and west of Ali and we aim for this as our first stop. This kingdom apparently contains ruined Tibetan monestaries, destroyed in the Chinese cultural revolution. One traveller said that the sight 'brought a tear to my eye'. It's a recommendation we take with caution, as many of the local toilets have had the same affect on us.
The road to Guge is bad and trucks avoid it. Our only option is a jeep, but for this to be economical we need to fill it to the brim. We gather a small posse of other travellers. Frank is still with us (though Glover and I are entertaining plans to change this situation). Ben and Riva join us: a Canadian couple from the nightmare bus ride from Kharkgilik to Ali. Two Japanese guys, also from the bus, team up with us as well. One is called Onish, the other I still don't know the name of despite him telling me several hundred times.
We are looking for the bus depot when we are approached by two stocky looking guys. One is Russian, the other is Polish (but living in Canada). They have that solid Eastern European look - chiselled chins and ox like bone structure. The Polish guy introduces himself as Karol. His English is good but he has a thick, heavy accent and for a moment I wonder if he is actually a cyborg sent by the Chinese government to Terminate illegal foreigners.
The Russian introduces himself as Victor. He is friendly, loud, and excitable. His English is broken but that doesn't hold him back. "I am Victor! I am very Happy! I am English Student!" He yells each phrase, and repeats them to every person in the room, even the Chinese staff, who look like they are ready to call the police or possibly the army.
These two strange men explain to us in hurried but definite terms that they are about to organise a jeep or possibly hire a bus to take them to Guge and then on to the next stop on our list, Mount Kailash. I am hastily elected spokesman for our small band (by virtue of being the slowest to back away from the Russians at the time) and sent along with them for the negotiations.
We take a cab. Victor speaks some Chinese, though he again seems to make up for his lack of vocabulary with extra volume. He hollars at the poor cab driver explaining that we want to go to the Antelope transport office. The driver seems too afraid to understand. Victor continues yelling. Karol produces a business card of the office and shows this to the driver commanding him in English.
The cab driver, bombarded with directions freezes like a deer caught in headlights. Victor and Karol alternate between yelling at the driver and arguing with each other in Russian. After a while Karol turns to me and says, "He must be finished idiot not to understand where we want to go". At this stage I'm thinking the guy is a 'finished idiot' not to have ditched his car and legged it for the mountains.
Eventually the directions are sorted and we end up at the Antelope transport office. This is the only company in town capable of servicing our needs. Karol and Victor have been given the details of several contacts and as they bundle out of the cab they storm through the garage yelling the name of their contact to anyone and everyone in their path. It is amazingly effective and we are quickly ushered into an air conditioned office.
The boss of the Ali branch of Antelope is here lounging in a cushy leather chair. He eyes us up shrewdly, obviously a keen businessman. He speaks excellent English and Karol conducts the negotiations with him in English, rather than using Victor's Chinese.
There is only one jeep available, seating (a very optimistic) twelve. The Russians are a group of eight, leaving four seats for my team. The logistics of the seating is a problem for later however - Karol sets to work on the man for a price. The initial quote is 4,000 yuan for the three days needed. Karol is not impressed, and explains that the price should most definitely be lower.
A display of bargaining prowess, the likes I have never seen before, ensues. The boss is no push over, and he knows he has the only goods in town. Karol hits him from every angle. Karol explains that they are coming with a full truck load of tourists and that this is very good business for Antelope. He also points out that they are friends with the director of Antelope, Paul Chang.
The whole time Karol is calmly negotiating, Victor paces the office, parroting key words from Karol's sale pitch. "Very Good Business!", he yells, "My Friend, Paul Chang!". Karol carries on as if Victor is not there. It's an impressive act and I stay on the sideline, not sure whether to laugh or hide.
The boss is beginning to feel the pressure so he trys a new tactic. He explains that the price is up to the driver and not his decision. The driver is called in, and the brilliance of this plan is revealed - the driver speaks not a word of English.
This doesn't stop Karol and Victor. Victor pulls out the heavy guns, "I am Student! I have little money!". Karol starts writting numbers on a piece of paper, and attempts to shake hands with the driver. "Cheap very good! Expensive very bad!", Victor hammers the driver with undeniable logic. This bombardment has started before the boss can even explain the situation to the driver. The poor guy has no idea what is going on.
Karol pulls out the deal clencher. He wraps the little driver in a bear hug and lifts him from the ground. Victor grabs the stunned driver's hand and shakes it, which is obviously better than a written contract for a Russian. As Karol lowers the confused driver to the ground, he slaps him on the arse for good measure. The boss has given up by this point and the Russians and I walk out with a price of 3,600 yuan. I'm not sure if it's imagined or real, but I hear the solid click of the door lock sliding into place as we leave the office.
I return to the team and explain that we have only four seats for the jeep the next day. There is no clean way to split the team and eventually we decide the best option is to give the seats to an Aussie family that had just arrived. We figure that with two young kids they would have more trouble than us travelling from Ali. It's obviously a charitable offer, though I'm pretty sure most of the group were more than a little scared of travelling with the Russians for three days.
So we are back at square one, stuck in Ali with no way out. Eventually we find an indepndent businessman willing to take the seven of us in his jeep. Onish, who speaks Chinese, does the bargaining and I can't help noticing the difference between the Russian and Japanese bargaining methods. Obviously the Russians got the better price. I consider bear hugging the driver myself, but my Polish genes prove to be too diluted.
The next morning we wait in our hotel foyer at the designated time. Our driver is a no show. We give him till midday but he fails to appear. Things are not going well. Unwilling to spend another day in Ali, we comb the streets. We find the main post office. It is possible to hitch a ride in the back of one of the huge green mail trucks, using the mail bags as seating. Unfortunately however, the next truck is not due out for a few days.
Eventually we find a mini-bus willing to take us directly to Mount Kailash. It means missing the Guge kingdom, but it's really our only option. We climb aboard and settle in for the ten hour trip.
The landscape starts out much the same, barren, rocky mountains and open plateaus. The further south and east that we travel, the more the land begins to come alive. There are no trees, but lush green grass starts to cover the plateau. Through the dirty bus windows we see large weasel like creatures scurry into tunnels and smaller mice follow suite. In the distance four wild deer leap across the open plain with nowhere to hide. Overhead three massive eagles soar in time with the bus, escorting it along the road through the windy cliffs.
As night begins to settle in we finally arrive at the small, primitive town of Darchen. It's a nothing town of lowset, mud-brick houses. Overhead however, looms the reason for the town's existance - the snowy cap of Mount Kailash. This solitary mountain, rising to 6,700 meters high, is one of the most sacred sites in Hindu mythology. This is the home of Shiva, the greatest of the Hindu Gods.
Hindus believe that by walking around this mountain you can wipe away a lifetime of sins, clearing your Kharma for your next incarnation. Obviously this is an opportunity Glover and myself can not aford to miss. We surely have more than a few outstanding Kharma debts.
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