Deeper Into China's Mountains

The last few days couldn't have worked out any better.  During the last entry, the plan was to head to Yubeng - alone.  As usually happens when traveling alone, I met a larger group going on the Yubeng trek.  It ended up being a group of 5 Chinese travelers and me (the crew pictured above).  There were 2 guys from Hong Kong (Adrian and Tim; both young 20s and in law school) who spoke perfect English.  There was also 1 girl (Louise; my age) from Shanghai who spoke perfect English (and German) and who plans to pursue a PhD in anthropology in Deutschland.  There also was a young girl from inland China (no western name) as well as 1 guy from the Chinese army (i was told he was from the equivalent of our "Delta Force", but had been out for at least 2 years traveling his country...he didn't speak English so we did a lot of hand signals and grunting to communicate).  We all met for dinner and hopped in a mini van the next morning.  It was 1.5 hours to the hot springs of Xidang and then a 7 hour hike into Yubeng village (pronounced: u-bong).  Most of the hike is uphill with the last 2 hours a descent into the village.  This was definitively the most remote place i have been on my travels thus far.  Yes, Africa is very remote and they have far fewer resources, but East Africa is very accessible by 4x4 and there are dirt roads leading in and out of most places.  Yubeng is only accessible by horse or foot (only the weak take a horse - which are most Chinese "city" tourists - lazy buggers).  We hiked in by foot and carried our own gear.  Yubeng sits in a valley at the base of 4 sacred Tibetan peaks - Kawa Karpo and his 3 companions (these are all off limits for climbing to the peak because a group of famous Japanese mountain climbers died in the 1990s attempting to summit). 

 

We stayed at the Mystic Waterfall Guest House which is the last building (other than the Shenpu - a sacred temple) on the trail to the mountains.  This was very simple accommodation by western standards, but nice for the location - and the food was actually quite good.  We stayed for 2 nights and during our full day in Yubeng we climbed to the Sacred Waterfall.  This waterfall is sacred for local Tibetans (who are almost exclusively practicing Buddhists) and when you get to the waterfall you must walk clockwise through the water an odd number of times.  Needless to say, we all stayed true to local custom and stripped down to bare essentials and walked through the freezing glacial waterfall (it was sunny out, so we were just fine walked home half drenched). 

 

The next day we hiked out of he village and took a van all the way back to Shangri-La - passing quickly through Deqin and Feilai Si.  Along the way i decided to call the local guiding company in Shangri-La to see if they had any treks. 

 

And...the luck was in my favor, perhaps because i walked through the mystic waterfall!  3 random Americans were doing a trek to the Baima Nature Reserve the very next morning (i had been trying for days to get there and was effectively laughed because "nobody" camps out there).  But that is exactly what we did.  We had 3 days and 2 nights of camping; as well as a guide, cook and driver and good local Tibetan campfire meals.  We trekked for a 6 hours into the reserve during our 1 full day.  We had great views of the valley and surrounding mountains.  Our group was 2 guys and 2 girls; Christian, Maren and Shannon - they were all from the Rhode Island School of Design pursuing graduate degrees in Landscape Architecture.  We had a great experience with our local Tibetan crew and guide (Thupten - who spoke English quite well) and we also had quite a few laughs.

 

Exploring the Northwestern Yunnan Province here in China turned out to be exactly what i wanted to achieve.  Traveling alone has been an eye-opening experience because you get to meet many interesting people along the way.  The randomness of my travels and the lack of planning has also been fun, you would all be surprised how relaxed and go-with-the-flow these last few weeks have been.  One of my traveling companions commented (after I explained recent travels in Yunnan) that i travel "by the seat of my pants."  The last week or so couldn't be summed up any better than that and the randomness and lack of official planning has really added to the experience.  I now have plenty of new facebook friends and potential travel buddies after being in China (and India and Africa for that matter). Now off to Chengdu (the famous Panda research city) as a last stop off before heading back to Shanghai to fly home for family, friends, partying, weddings, and dare i say...a strict workout schedule! 

 

Tiger Leaping Gorge - to - Shangri-La

After parting ways with Eric I headed up to northwestern Yunnan Province to the city of Lijiang.  Spent one night at a nice (well-known) hostel run by a local Naxi woman and in the morning joined a random (diverse) group of 6 people headed to hike the Tiger Leaping Gorge along the Yangzi river.  Out of our group of 7 there we 2 Yanks, 2 Brits, 1 German, 1 French, 1 Dutch.  It was a fun group.  We spent 2 days hiking the gorge, hiking about 6-7 hours each day.  Let me tell you, this hike was no picnic and excluding the summit of Kilimanjaro, was probably the most physically strenuous of the hikes I have done on my africa, inda, china trips thus far.  The trail was from 2,200 to 2,800 meters ~(7,200 ft to 9,200 ft high) and it included a lot of steep ascents and descents along the way.  After the first day of trekking we reached the halfway point and stayed at the aptly named Halfway Guest House, which actually was a nice facility for being in a remote region and on a hiking trail.  The next day we set out early to reach the famous "Tiger Leaping Stone" which was at the bottom of the gorge on the river.  Legend has it that a tiger lept across the river using this stone as a starting or landing spot.  Who knows, there are no more tigers in this area to prove or disprove the theory and the river is ~40 feet wide at this spot (must have been a magical tiger).  After descending all the way to the river we had to head back up to catch a cab to town, this entailed hiking very steep trails and using ladders constructed out of wires that were bolted to the rocks, quite an experience.  But we all made it back to the top in good health.

 

After the gorge we parted ways with the Brits and German and 4 of us headed to Shangri-La - a remote town in Northwestern Yunnan.  The road along the way was in rough shape and the scenery reminded me of remote sections in Montana or the Swiss Alps.  This all made us believe that we would be entering a small remote town with a quaint feel.  Alas, China stimulus money has also hit the remote regions of the country.  It looked like Disneyland when we entered Shangri-La.  Tons of construction of new roads and buildings.  The buildings were new, yet the attempt was there to make them look "traditional."  Let's just say, that didn't work!  I guess these are the growing pains of Developing (and Developed) countries.  The economic growth necessary to keep living standards growing reduces the traditional feel of places and certainly ruins much of the untouched land.  Having said that, this area of China is still quite remote and there is much untouched land (including a new national park/preserve) and many sacred mountains that (theoretically) won't be touched.  Furthermore, Shangri-La and the more Northwest regions (such as Deqin, where i am currently writing this entry from) are very Tibetan.  It seems like the Chinese gov't is trying to keep the "Tibetan" feel for tourism reasons but is encouraging an influx of the Han Chinese residents and tourists (majority of China's population) to keep the Tibetan people in check.  Who knows the real answer, but that is the feeling i get from being here and knowing a little about the way in which China's unnecessarily paranoid gov't works.  If you want to read more firsthand about the development issue, here is a good website.  This lodge was recommended by Lonely Planet as a genuine place to stay in Deqin (7 hr bus ride from Shangri-La).  Apparently the rampant development, even of this remote Tibetan outpost, is causing issues: http://www.deqinlodge.com/closed.html

As stated before, I am in Deqin, it is raining, so no hiking today.  Tomorrow I head (alone) to Yubeng which is 1.5 hours by car and 5 hours hiking.  There are no roads to Yubeng and it will be at about 3,000 m elevation (10,000 ft or so).  The plan is to stay at the "Mystic Waterfall Hotel" which was graciously researched and recommended by my fellow TNC YPG colleague - Evelyn.  She will be excited that I am actually getting there.  I am excited to, will do 2-3 days of day trekking around that area.  Will post the hopefully amazing pics when i return. 

 

Oh yeah, random side note, my current travel buddy (Michelle, sweet girl from LA area, we are the only ones left over from the original 7) and I stopped by the "Migratory Bird Cafe & Bar" here is Feilai Si (right outside the town of Deqin with amazing views of the sacred mtn, Kawa Karpo, of the Meili Xueshan range north of the city).  The Migratory Bird was recommended by Lonely Planet as a good source of food and information.  It also proved to be a good source of entertainment.  As soon as we walked in a group of young, university-age TIbetans excitedly invited us to join them for food and drinks.  They had clearly been drinking already, so we joined right in.  1 kid spoke english pretty well and the 3 girls with him tried their best.  It was quite entertaining as the girls, whenever they wanted to speak with us, would try to tell us in english, and would get frustrated and yell at the guy (who we can call Chip, since i have no idea how to pronounce or spell his Tibetan name) to come translate.  Needless to say, they were very friendly and very fond of us and couldn't stop expressing how happy they were to drink with us and how they wanted to visit the US some day and even do world travel on their own.  This was a nice chance meeting and I hope to party with them again one night after returning from the wilds of Yubeng (Mom, don't worry, 2 people have already told me Yubeng is very well marked and all the trails are straightforward for navigation...also China's rampant development means my China Mobile mobile will almost certainly work.)

 

Ok, that is enough for now.  Hope things are well with everyone.  Only slightly more than a week left in China - eventually venturing back to Shanghai from the middle of nowhere - and back to the US just in time to party with James R and the girls in the Hamptons on Labor Day weekend, nice!!!!!!!!!!

 

later

 

dave

 

Travels in China - Eric's Last Day

Tomorrow is my brother's last day in China.  He has been here for 3 months, studying in Shanghai for a month, traveling for a few weeks and teaching English in a rural village.  We have traveled together for the last week; a few days in Shanghai, a few days in Beijing, ending our trip in the Guangxi province in Southern China.  We are staying in Xingping, near Yangshuo.  This area of China is relatively rural (water buffalo, people in traditional Chinese hats, lots of rice fields, etc) and is known for the limestone peaks that surround the region.  In fact, the Chinese 20 Yuan note has a famous picture of the limestone hills that are a 15-20 minute walk from Xingping village.

Over the last few days we have hiked up various hills/mtns and walked to rural fishing villages.  We also did a Cormorant fishing trip (please refer to Eric's goofy picture in this blog entry).  Quite an interesting ordeal; some random guy led us out to the river at night and to a boat with 10 birds on it.  The birds are Cormorants, water birds that are very adept swimmers and fisherman.  In China, these birds have been used for centuries to catch fish.  In order to prevent the birds from eating the fish a string is tied around their necks.  The string is just tight enough to prevent the birds from swallowing the bigger, more desirable fish, but leaves enough room to allow the birds to eat the smaller fish they catch.  The Cormorants swim along with the boat (never attempting to escape) and dive down to catch fish (the fish are attracted to the light at the front of the boat).  The birds must surface in order to eat and if they have a large enough fish (which you can see get stuck in their throats) the fisherman takes a long bamboo pole, grabs the bird by the attached string and hoists them into the boat.  He then very "gingerly" takes the fish out of their mouths (ha, just kidding, he is not nice to the birds, it actually made me cringe, seeing that i am the "bird man" and did spend a semester studying Cormorants while in college).  The fisherman and birds do, however, seem to have a nice symbiotic relationship.  The birds get to eat some fish and the fisherman helps them catch the fish with the boat's light (making their work quite easy).  Although this "Cormorant fishing" was not quite authentic, it was a reasonably accurate (although modernized) reflection of traditional Chinese culture.

It is too bad that Eric must leave tomorrow, but he is ready to go after being in China for 3 months and he is excited to get back to his girlfriend in DC (my parents also seriously need to breathe a sigh of relief once he gets home).   After Eric leaves, i will officially be traveling on my own without an organized trip (for the first time since the travels started in Africa).  The next 2 weeks should prove exciting, I only have a flight booked to the Yunnan province, no accommodation, no travel plans, only ideas.  Hope to meet some interesting people along the way and see some of the most remote parts of (non-Tibetan) China.  Until the next update.  See ya.  

dave

Circumventing the China Blogger Block...and Reflections on Asia

China won't get the best of this blog!  I know you have all been waiting in heated anticipation for the next entry.

Anyhow, without further adieu, wanted to update ya'll on these funny "Reflections on Asia" (which really just are reflections on some funny things in Northern India and my few days in China).

This is a random list without any classification or particular order, it is just funny, if you aren't laughing, you need to re-evaluate your life, seriously (or i just have poor story telling skills).

1) The plane from Delhi to Shanghai - The sheer amount of rude behaviour on this leg of my journey was unreal (and nothing i have seen on plane in the past comes even close in comparison).  There were mostly Indian men on this China Eastern Airlines flight, obviously the flight attendants were Chinese.  I don't know if the behaviour is normal for Indian men on a Chinese airline (i met and interacted with many considerate Indians on my travels there)...but this was outlandish.  The group of Indians around me were constantly ringing the Flight Attendant bell (you know, the little light that you sparingly use because you know it will really anger the flight attendants).  Perhaps this was their first time on the plane, or perhaps they didn't care (i think the latter).  But this whole group (sitting in coach) would ring the flight attendant bell for the smallest problem or request.  There was one (very overweight) guy who rang the bell at least 30 times in 3 minutes (this is not an exaggeration).  And the requests weren't the least bit urgent.  If they wanted more water (even right after being served, while all other customers were getting served drinks), they would ring the bell and yell at the flight attendants for more water.  If they were done with their water and wanted to get rid of their cup, instead of waiting like normal human beings for the trash collection, they would ring the bell and yell for the flight attendants to take their cup away.  I could barely comprehend how the rudeness around me.

2) The Chinese on Planes - On Chinese planes, the lavatories have directions on both english and mandarin.  Very difficult to misread these signs.  They also have colors (just like every traffic light on the face of the earth) where green mean go/vacant and red means stop/occupied.  This doesn't concern many chinese travelers.  More than once, i saw grown Chinese men, pushing the clearly occupied lavatory doors with reasonable force.  One even tried to throw his shoulder in it as he couldn't understand why the door didn't open on his command.  I guess these are the growing pains of developing countries!  In a similar vein, we saw a variety of Chinese people of the subway who were very scared of the escalators (both old and young) and who were very cautious/nervous about getting on these complicated "moving" stairs.  Some funny sights for parts of life that we consider so "normal."

3) Hello Laser - Obviously in all of these countries there are many people on the streets trying to sell what is mostly junk.  Same here in China as in Africa and India.  But here it is quite funny, because the language barrier is greater and command of english is even lower than in Africa or India.  When you walk the streets of Shanghai at night, there are guys trying to sell you toys and their main "attraction" is a laser pen (or something with flashing lights).  Their method of getting your attention is to shine the laser at your feet and say "Hello Laser" - this phrase is not separated as in "Hello, (pause) Laser" - but is one continuous phrase.  It is quite funny to hear people say it this way.  And i know most of you are curious...do they actually saw the "L" or is it more like "Herro Raser" - Surprisingly enough, when one hears "Hello" in China more often than not it actually sounds like "Hello" - very odd.

4) The best way to combat street sellers - This is a random funny, Eric Nicola anecdote.  But the best method for making the constant barrage of street sellers humorous is to speak to them in various English phrases they won't understand.  So when a street seller engages us and we say "No Thank You" he also ends the encounter with "I Love You."  Hilarious.

5) Michael Jackson - WOW - totally obsessed over here.  2 nights ago was our first night in the Beijing hostel and we grabbed a quick dinner, the girl working here asked us if she could put in a Michael Jackson video - it was more like "Rock-u-mentary" - but either way she was very excited.  About a half hour later i was talking to another guy eating dinner and he had been here 2 weeks ago, same video was playing!  Last night we had dinner here again, a different MJ video on the TV (all night)!.  Apparently, the death of MJ was very traumatic for Chinese youths and this is their way of remembering.  

6) Bad Driving - This is the understatement of the year.  I am utterly shocked at how appalling the driving situation is in Africa, India, China.  In Africa it is likely because they have no real idea how to drive, but there is enough space to make things relatively safe.  In India they don't know and definitely don't care.  There are tons of lorries all over the road and most of the drivers are sleep deprived, drink, high or a combination thereof.  Additionally, since we were in the mountainous regions of India, the driving danger was exacerbated by the small roads, steep cliffs and blind curves.  It was almost as if the drivers would wait until there was a blind curve to pass on a narrow mountain road.  Unreal.  In China, i think they may know what they are doing, but they definitely don't care.  Traffic enforcement is non-existent and traffic signals are obeyed only on occasion.  At any given corner all four lanes are trying to get through the intersection and if someone is in your way (pedestrian or vehicle) keep moving until they get out of your way.  

That is it for now.  Hope to have more updates and anecdotes in the future.  China won't keep this blog down!

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

dave

Off to China...

Flying to China tonight, this website might be blocked by the authorities, so will revert with emails or will catch up with everyone in early September.

Enjoy the rest of the summer, finally get to see the big Bro tomorrow in Shanghai.  There is a typhoon rolling through China, so we will see what happens, probably will be very wet!

dave

Post Workshop Extravaganza

After the workshop ended I had about 5 days to kill before heading to China.  Many students stayed in Manali after the workshop and travelled to various places with new friends.  A crew of 4 of us decided to travel together for a few days before heading off in our own direction.  My crew ended up being 2 other students from my class (Gaelle and KP) and Varun (“co-host/organizer” of the last night’s party with me). 

Gaelle is a very pretty, very sweet girl from Paris that currently works for Unicef in Senegal.  She is quite adventurous given her 4 day adventure with 3 other dudes around the Himalayan parts of India and her work with Unicef in Africa (she has been there for over 3 years).  KP is a smart dude from Bombay (yes, Bombay, nobody calls it Mumbai here in India...that I met).  He grew up in India and went to college in the US.  He has a similar story to me in that he spent a number of years in finance and is now mostly free of that life.  KP helped set up a real estate hedge fund in Mumbai and the success of that gives him the flexibility to pursue photography as he wishes.   Although not a professional in practice, he has some amazing pictures.   Varun, what can I say, he is the man.  He grew up in Calcutta and lives in Chennai, also went to college in the US and studied photography in India.  He is a freelance photographer and very resourceful and connected here in India.  Varun was the brains and the organization behind our last few days of travel in India. 

The 2^nd day after the workshop ended (the 1^st day was a relax and recuperation day) we went paragliding.  7 total students from the workshop went along for the ride.  We drove to Rhotang pass, which is 13,100 feet and a 3 hour drive from Manali (much of that time is actually spent waiting in traffic as the roads are small and very inefficient...not to mention packed with big trucks).  The views from up there are amazing with many snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas.  Most of the “tourists” heading up to the pass are Indian.  They get all dressed up in old fur coats, many of them with leopard prints, and take pictures of one another.  Since India is so hot, this is one of their chances to actually wear winter gear and it is quite amusing to them.

We launched on our paragliding trip about 7 kms below Rhotang pass.  We flew for about 40 minutes and landed down in the valley - quite a view from way up in the air.  We were with a group of very experienced paragliders and their leader was once (and maybe still is) the Indian champion for paragliding acrobatics.   Some of us did not “appreciate” the acrobatics as much as others (well, our stomachs didn’t, lets just say that).  Next time, Dramamine before paragliding!

The next day we awoke at 5 am and the 4 of use set out for our trek.  We hired a driver for 3 days and drove to the Parvati Valley.  This is an area famous for its hiking/trekking and we planned on figuring everything out when we got there.  After speaking with the driver and some locals we decided to spend our first afternoon climbing to Khir Ganga (Kheer Ganga, Khirganga, Kheerganga....spelled how you wish).  Khirganga is famous for the weed scene (no this is not a theme for my trip, just coincidence that the remote regions in India which are best for hiking are also known for the weed scene).  We hired 2 porters (I carried all my own stuff, relax, I had more than enough porters for the year while climbing Kili) and hiked through massive pine forests for about 4 hours.  Khirganga is a large opening above the forest and it is a holy place for the locals with some naturally occurring hot springs.  The accommodation is very, very basic.  You can just show up (reservations not required, or even possible) and pay 100 rupees ($2) for a wood/plastic covered shack with a wooden bed, thin (old) mattress.  Honestly, would have been more luxurious to sleep in a tent for the night, but luxury was not the point, this is how they do in Khirganga.

Anyway, Khirganga is beautiful and interesting.  It really is a bunch of hippies that sit around and smoke massive amounts of weed (weed that always gets top awards in Amsterdam’s yearly weed judging festivals).  You are surrounded by towering peaks, some of them snow covered, and you eat basic Indian food and sip Masala Chai morning, noon and night.  We took a dip in the hot springs and just chilled out.  It really was nice hanging with 3 new friends, everyone is relaxed and open minded and willing to just go with the flow.  It was a great way to round off the workshop..and some hiking/adventure was seriously needed after a week of “working” on photos and stories.

We planned to fly back to Delhi after returning from our trek and from there we would all drive down to the Taj Mahal before parting ways.  Well, India is known for flight delays/cancellations and the weather did not help our situation.  If it were the US or Europe, the flights would have been fine.  But budget Indian airlines are not as well equipped (or maybe the pilot was just too high to make it to the airport).  The flight was turned back to Delhi and our plans of a quick return were spoiled.  No worries, right, go with the flow.  We got our refunds and hired a driver for the next 2 days.  Instead of going to Delhi in one 12-hour shot by car, we decided to stop in the state of Punjab, in the city of Chandigarh.  This state is mostly inhabited by Sikhs and is a very patriarchical culture within of India.  The land is very fertile and agriculture is abundant.  We found a very nice country retreat (well, combination of Lonely Planet from Gaelle and contacts from Varun) and it was the perfect place to spend the night.  The place was a very nice compound with a pool (which is quite rare) and good food/drinks.  Punjab is really hot and muggy (actually that is an understatement) and the pool was the perfect way to cool off.

Overall, India has been great.  Lots of new people, lots of new persectives and an interesting country (both in terms of natural and cultural beauty).  I will certainly return to see the rest of the country at some point (winter is best when it is not so hot) and will also keep in touch with my travel buddies for future trips/treks around the world.

dave

The Workshop Comes to a Close

The Foundry Photojournalism workshop ended a few days ago and overall it was a great experience.  We all did a photo essay on a subject in and around Manali.  Many of the photos were impressive and some of the stories were quite interesting.  My story was about a Nepalese farmer, 22 years old, who lives on a 1 acre orchard owned by a local “businessman.”  He stays there 24-7 for the growing season and goes back to Nepal to visit his family at least once a year. It is a very lonely existence, he rarely interacts with others and he spends much of his time tending to the orchard and guarding the property.   (Will post pics of the story on my website if you are interested: www.davidjnicolaphoto.com ).

Other students did stories on Tibetan monks and culture, other India cultures around Manali, local hospitals, etc. Overall many of the students were impressive photographers and photojournalists.   Honestly, after seeing the work of many students during the workshop (as well as their past work and current websites) my photo skills have a LONG way to go.  I need to get some better photos especially if I am going to have a website that people actually look at!  Some people really have a unique perspective and it comes through in their photography.

Meeting everyone was certainly the highlight of the event.  There were 70 or so students with about 10 instructors.  Our instructors were well-known photojournalists that donated their time to come teach the class.  The students were very diverse, from all over the world and had many different levels of experience.   Some were freelance photographers or photojournalists and some were neophytes (i.e. me). 

The last night was supposed to be our big blowout party.  At about 4 pm I found out nothing was organized in terms of alcohol or late night partying. So I decided to take charge as the “Beer Man” and figure it out.  With the help of my new friend, Varun, we were able to make sure the party lasted until 5 am.  We got beer, alcohol, wine, mixers, etc all organized for the various parts of the evening and even were able to make sure the drinks were “mostly” cold (which is tough to do for massive quantities of alcohol in a country were fridges are infrequent and small and ice does not exists…at all!)  The party ended up being a great time and a great way to top off the week.  If my busy schedule of unemployment permits, I will seriously consider returning again next year as they plan on hosting the workshop in Istanbul or Sarajevo.

Haggling over Pennies

It seems ridiculous, but haggling over pennies is a very real part of traveling in the poorest parts of the world. This was mentioned once in a documentary I recently watched; "A Map for Saturday" (documentary produced by friend of some ex Blue Mtn colleagues). In this film the author travels for 360 days or so around the world and while in Thailand he explains how you haggle over even the smallest amounts of money.

I experienced this the other day, before realizing the absurdity of that situation. It was 8:30 pm or so, just finished shooting some photos and had a 15 min walk up a hill back to the hotel. A rickshaw drove down and I grabbed him for the trip up. I asked how much: "30 rupees" - before just saying "yes", I replied "20 rupees" - to which he promptly shook his head "No." Then i realized the ridiculous nature of the situation. 10 rupees is 20-25 cents! Does that even count as a rounding error? Needless to say, i took the 30 rupees ride (which actually was a rip off when compared to our normal 50 rupee rides to town).

One of the points made when we discuss the necessity of haggling for pennies with locals is that this is part the process. Locals will always haggle in order to get to the right level. Tourists, esp westerners, should haggle because the initial price usually starts at 2-3 times the local price (the price at which the good or service will trade). Even though it seems ridiculous to haggle over small amounts of money (by our standards) these "small amounts" are real money to the people. Additionally, it has been argued that foreigners who do not haggle over "small money" are making it more difficult for many of their brethren traveling on a tight budget. If a foreign tourist always trades at 2-3 times the price it will simply set the "white person" price higher than necessary in the future. This seems logical, but there also is a limit to how far one should push people who are very clearly living at much lower living standards. $10 grand per year in these parts of India will give you a relatively comfortable lifestyle.

Apparently, the lesson to be learned from all of this is: haggle with the locals, it is a natural part of the process. Don't feel bad about it...but also have some perspective on the situation. It isn't a big deal for a few extra dollars to go to those struggling to meet what we consider our most basic needs.