New Eyes (1 June)

Marcel Proust

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.  ~Marcel Proust

It's 5:40 a.m. and our eyes pop open -- whether from excitement or confused sleep cycles, we have no idea.  It takes a moment to get our bearings.  We're in Chengdu, China, the seat and largest city of China's Sichuan (for most westerners, synonymous with the spicy food  of the region (think Szechuan-style)) Province -- and just a one-day transition from Tibet.  Here, everything is new.  It's funny, when nothing is familiar or anticipated how heightened our noticing becomes.  We have been gifted with travelers' eyes -- snapping neural polariods rapid fire:

•  The view from our 20th floor window -- of other 20th floor windows in a strange urban garden sprouting rows of high rises as far as the eye can see . . . so many apparently empty.

Children's Day in Tianfu Square

• The bustling efficiency of the young (almost Stepford-like) Jin Jiang Hotel staff in their snappy uniforms.
• Emerging from the hotel into the light-less day.  Chengdu (and its 20 million inhabitants) exists under a cloud of high humidity and pollution, which perpetually blocks the sun.  
• Tianfu Square vibrating with families on International Children's Day -- all under the watchful eye of China's largest Mao Zedong statue. 
• The overbuilt metropolitan collision of living spaces, work spaces, construction cranes and garage-front vendor stalls, flanked by the glittering opulent storefronts of Cartier, Ferragamo and Lamborghini.
• The streets filled with a mad motorized herd of trucks, cars, SUVs, scooters, electric tricycles, bicycles and everything in between (and I daresay every single operator talking or texting on a cell phone). 

*****

Although we have a scheduled trek "launch" meeting this evening, by happenstance all four trekkers and our guide connect at breakfast.  We are:

Karl -- An accomplished climber, trekker and world traveler from Davis, California.

Chris -- An dedicated adventurer (and fellow Snowman trek veteran) from Seattle (and in the process of re-locating to her native England), with keen travel/trekking experience

Cliff and me -- ('nuff said)

And Gary McCue -- Our inimitable guide. Gary is nothing short of phenomenal, having first come to Tibet in 1985, he has literally written the book on Trekking Tibet (now in its third edition).  He's a BIG reason we decided to take this trek, now.

*****

We eventually did get to that evening launch meeting and group dinner.  I wish I had taken pictures at:  The locals’ Sichuan restaurant where Gary deftly ordered seven dishes (speaking Chinese): Duck (just leave the bones on the table), eggplant (Sichuan-style, of course), Chinese water spinach, tofu (hot, hot, hot), Kung-Po Chicken (five times hotter than you think) and a scrambled egg and tomato dish. Just by trying a bit of everything, I was full. We ate in an upstairs dining room foggy with cigarette smoke (does everyone in China smoke?), where the chopsticks were deemed too dirty for purpose (our guide gifted us all with a personal set to be used for the duration of the trip), the water was not potable and there was nary a napkin in sight. The food?  Pretty darned good.

After dinner we all quickly retreated to our rooms to shuffle our gear between back packs and duffels in order to meet the weight restrictions for our early morning (domestic, really?) flight to Tibet.  TIBET!