Days 1 and 2-Tokyo to Urumqi by Air.
After flying to Beijing from Tokyo on Tuesday night, I stayed at the exciting Beijing Jing Du Center of Entertainment Co., Ltd. Hotel. It is the cheapest thing available to foreigners near the airport. 200 yuan, or about $25.
The next day, I flew to Urumqi on China Southern Airlines, one of at least 23 airlines that are currently operating in China. It was flying relatively new western aircraft, not Russian ones like the other airline available. They seemed relatively safe-they gave a safety demonstration in English for me (I was the only non-Chinese on the aircraft), the pilot spoke English, and nobody was using their cellular phones while we were landing (UNLIKE my Qingdao to Shenyang flight in May 1997). I met a Chinese lady on the plane, and though she spoke no English and I no Chinese, we somehow managed to communicate. I shared a cab with her and her friend and drove to "beautiful" downtown Urumqi.
Urumqi, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, is the most landlocked city on earth. The following is a quote from my Guiness 1996 CD ROM:
"Cities and Towns: Farthest town from the sea- The largest town most remote from the sea is Urumqi (Wu-lu-mu-ch'i) in Xinjiang, the capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, at a distance of about 1,500 miles from the nearest coastline. Its population was estimated to be 1,160,000 in 1990. Copyright (c) 1995 by Guinness Publishing Ltd."
Day 3-Scenic Urumqi.
In the morning, I went to Renmin (citizen's) Park, and observed some people doing their Tai Chi in the -15 or -20 degree celsius morning air. I then took a photo of one of the park's sparkling toilets, as a favor to one of my English students who collects toilet photos. Due to the frigid temperature, it didn't smell.
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A four hole toilet in Renmin Park. |  |
Morning exercises. |
I visited the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum. They have an exhibition dedicated to some of the minority people that inhabit Xinjiang province. The Han Chinese tend to congregate in the cities along the rail line, but in the countryside, the Han are the minority. The most numerous of the minorities are the Urygur people, accounting for about half of the 14 million or so people that live in Xinjiang. The Urygurs look like Turkish people. The museum also contains an interesting exhibit about 10-15 very well preserved 3000-4000 year old mummies.
After the museum, I wandered through the street market. Street markets in China fascinate me, and have many types of interesting things (especially food) for sale-pig faces being among the most unusual.
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Chicken feet. |  |
The Herbal Medicine stand. |  |
Another vendor (tourist pamphlet photo). |  |
And another (tourist pamphlet photo). |
In the evening I met Mr. Yeu from the previous day, and his friend, Ms. Zhao Lingjie, who spoke pretty good English. We went to an all you can eat Mongolian hotpot restaurant (Shabu Shabu, for my Japanese readers). In addition to the standard meat, fish, and vegetables, they had some other delicacies such as rabbit ears, duck intestines, cow heart valves, and blood tofu (bean curd). I ate them all. The rabbit ears were a bit chewy, as they're basically all cartilage.
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Me and my new friend Zhao Lingjie. |  |
Dave with the duck intestine and rabbit ear. |
Days 4 and 5-To the Kazakhstan Border.
In the morning, I got on the train and journeyed toward the Kazakhstan border, about 10 hours away. There was an Urygur border guard in the bunk next to me. Unfortunately, because he was in uniform, he wouldn't allow me to take his picture. Using gestures and some phrases in my Lonely Planet book, we managed to communicate. He didn't smoke, spit on the floor, or blow his nose without a tissue, unlike some of the Han Chinese. My 10 hour journey only cost about $8.00 US. I spent the night in exciting Alataw Shankou on the border. I had to take a shower with a water glass because the shower knob was missing.
On the next morning, I took a taxi about 3 km to the border. There's nothing there, except 2 frozen border guards who didn't want their photo taken. In the evening, I got on the train, and headed for Turpan.
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The Kazakhstan-China border. |
Days 6 to 8-Turpan.
I arrived at Urumqi about 9 in the morning, and bought a ticket to Daheyan, the closest station to Turpan. The Urumqi station is unique in the fact that they have several burly "enforcers"to try to restore some order to the normally chaotic atmosphere. The enforcers persuaded people, at least temporarily, to stand in line and wait their turn. I rode hard seat for about USD 1.50 two and a half hours to Daheyan, and then rode minibus an hour and 45 minutes across the desert on a road(?) to Turpan. The desert in this area is very flat and rocky, the highway was washed out and we had to drive on a rough track across the desert. I stayed at the Turpan Hotel for about $11. I ate some barbecue flavor fried noodles at an Urygur place for about a dollar. It was a bit greasy, but good, with mutton for meat. Most of the places that I eat in in China could not be properly called restaurants. They are hole-in-the-walls with abysmal sanitation. Dishwashing often consists of rinsing under cold tap water and/or wiping it with a rag of questionable cleanliness. But, as long as you eat cooked food and drink only tea or soft drinks, you're pretty safe. I've never gotten sick.
As most of the "sights" of Turpan are located some distance away, I hired an English-speaking Urygur guide to show me around. We first went to the Gaochang ruins. It was founded in the 7th century, and became the capitol of the Urygur people when they moved from Mongolia. To me, it was pretty but looked more like rock formations than buildings. I asked my driver if he knew any local families that would like to have a foreign visitor for an hour or so. He did, and I was the first non-Urygur to visit their house. They depend on raising livestock and growing grapes for their livelyhood. Turpan is famous for its grapes and raisins. They are dried in the 40 degrees celsius summers in well ventilated adobe buildings.
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The Urygur family that I visited. |  |
The grape drying buildings. |  |
The Gaochang ruins. |
Afterwards, we went to the Atsana Graves, where there are a couple of less well preserved mummies (they're falling apart). Basically, I'd recommend skipping the place.
We then drove to the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves. I did not actually enter the place, as on my second trip to China I went to Datong and saw the Yungang Buddhist Caves, where there are supposed 50,000 Buddhas. Anyway most of the 1000 buddas have either been destroyed or have been removed by various archeologists and/or collectors earlier this century. I did go for a small hike for a few kilometres on a ridge near the caves. On the way back, the driver asked me if I wanted to drive, and I did for about 10 km. My first driving experience in China. Outside of Beijing, tourists are not allowed to drive.
Upon our return to Turpan, I went to the Emin Minaret, built in the 1770's by a local ruler. It was ok, but I found the Urygur cemetary behind it much more interesting. Women and men are buried in graves of different shapes, and children's graves don't have much of a marker. I did see one leg bone poking out of the dirt.
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In Urygur cemetaries, the graves are shaped differently according to gender. |  |
The Emin Minaret. The piles of dirt in the foreground are children's graves. |  |
The Flaming Mountains. |
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Jiaohe in the summer, when the air is clean (tourist pamphlet photo). |  |
A donkey cart at Jiaohe (tourist pamphlet photo). |  |
The Flaming Mountains (tourist pamphlet photo). |
On the next day, I boarded the bus to Daheyan, got on the train, and departed for Jiayuguan, the end of the Great Wall.
Day 9-Jiayuguan. After a restful night on the hardsleeper, I arrived in Jiayuguan. I found a taxi, and went to the Jiayuguan fort. I was the first one there, and had the whole place to myself. Three or four army trucks arrived and some PLA soldiers piled out. Afterwards, after I had walked around the outside wall of the fort, I discovered that they were making a historical movie. After lunch, my driver took me to the westernmost part of the Great Wall. It terminates in a vertical canyon, the edge is very unstable. If you stand withing a foot of it, you'll probably plunge to your death.
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At the fort. |  |
Movie stars. |  |
The END of The Wall. |
I descended by a path down to the frozen river. It was stark, but beautiful. I wandered around the canyon by myself-a rare oportunity in China-for an hour and a half or so, and climbed back to the canyon rim. I walked back along the crumbling remains of the wall, and waited for my driver to reappear. He eventually showed up, and I went back to the station, got on the train, and headed for Lanzhou. The Taxi only cost about $10 for the day. I bought a hardsleeper ticket for 111 Yuen ($13), for a 15 hour ride.
Day 10-Lanzhou.
I arrived in Lanzhou about 11:00 in the morning. I really didn't want to come here, but neither did I want to stay on the train longer than 15 hours. There's not much to see in Lanzhou. I tried to go to the chairlift to go up the 2000 meter mountain nearby to escape the smog, but it was closed. I then proceeded to the provincial museum, but it was closed too. I did find a pretty interesting street market, complete with chickens (both living and dead), catfish, pig faces, seamstresses, and pet goldfish, in addition to the normal meat and vegetables.
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In the canyon. |  |
Anyone for pigface soup? |  |
The bike-through live chicken section. |  |
Goldfish for sale. |
In one of the grocery stores, I discovered some interesting UHT treated food-dog, fox, goat, and doney meat. For the gourmets, they had donkey kidney meat. I got back on the train, my third night in a row. 168 Yuen for the ticket. This train was much nicer with a carpet, TWO relatively clean flush toilets (as in no puddles of urine/feces all over the floor), curtains, no smoking/spitting, and courteous attendants.
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The "lean, sweet-smelling" dogmeat wrapper. |  |
The tourist hardsleeper. |
Day 11-Xian.
I arrived in Xian about 7:30. Trying to get a train ticket in Xian was a hassle and took me about 2 hours. I took a public bus to the Army of Terracotta Warriors, about an hour for 60 cents. I think the tickets to the Warriors are overpriced. Chinese price is 35 yuan, foreigners 80. Pit number 1 is pretty impressive, with about 1000 of the estimated 6000 soldiers having been excavated. Pit 2 is open but not much is there. Pit 3 was closed. Photographs are prohibited to protect the book and postcard industry, so here are 3 postcards. While attempting to leave, I hit an obnoxious minibus attendant twice, because 3 of them had me trapped and I couldn't move.
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A postcard of Pit 1, the largest one. |  |
A closeup. |  |
Rows of soldiers. |
I went to the Banpo Neolithic Village, an archeological site on the outskirts of Xian. It was apparently occupied from 4500 B.C. to around 3750 B.C. There are the excavated remains of houses and some mummies. It wasn't bad, though it wasn't as impressive as the Terracotta Warriors, nor were the mummies in nearly as good condition as those in Urumqi.
Upon my return to central Xian, I discovered that the power had gone out, and some businesses were using candles, while the more prepared ones had generators going. I ate a huge bowl of noodles for about 60 cents.
Day 12-Xian to Beijing.
I got on the train about 0830. This was also one of the nicer trains. I met some interesting characters on this 19 hour trip. There was a group of 4 teenage girls who acted just like Japanese girls. One of them was VERY attached to her stuffed toy. She hugged it constantly, except when she was eating or in the toilet. Whe also kissed it, and cried sometimes. I also met some Americans who had their passport stolen in Xian, and were making an unplanned return to Beijing to get a replacement. I also met 2 Chinese that spoke some English, a chemical engineer and a college professor. I ate deer intestines in the dining car, and got to Beijing around 0330 in the morning.
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A girl's best friend. |  |
Me and the chemical engineer. |
Day 13-Beijing
I arrived about 0330 in the south railway station, and made my way to my usual hotel, a moderate $15 per night place. I didn't do much sightseeing, as I've seen Beijing 3 times before. Mostly, I went shopping for things llke donkey meat, sheepskin pillow covers, tea, and Chinese food. I flew back to Tokyo the next day. So ended my Rail Adventure in China.
