24 June 2008

Super size Chongqing and the Yangzi river

33 Million people are living in the municipality of Chongqing. That is an awful lot of people. No wonder that this place is - by some - considered as being the biggest city in the world (at least population wise). Being achieved by a paper transaction that simply extends the municipality of Chongqing to include other cities nearby, this claim seems to me a bit dubious. In fact, visiting this mega-polis does not really feel like being in a very large city. Mexico City, Sao Paulo or even New York seem to be much more crowded and bigger. "Chongqing has the largest population of any organism called a city in the stretches far beyond any reasonable definition of a metropolitan area and has a land area similar to that of Austria." (source)

However, this does not mean at all that I didn't like Chongqing. In the contrary: I was pleasantly surprised by the "laid back" feel of the old town areas, the vast cycling opportunities along the Yangzi river and the food stalls in the many tree-decorated alleys in the downtown ferry landing area. To sum things up: This was well worth my three day visit before heading on to Wuhan by boat on a Yangzi river cruise.

What separates a backpacker from the average posh tourist? It is the choice of how to do the mentioned river cruise. Since the regular tour boats for Western tourists aren't affordable for travelers on a budget (personally, I can do one full month in China for the price of the cheapest "Western" tour), backpackers often opt for a cheaper tour geared towards Chinese tourists.

Such a Chinese tour boat is segregated into three classes: First class is like a standard twin room in a Chinese hotel - and beyond my budget. Second class is a four bed dormitory, which comes at just about the price of my daily budget. Third class is a six bed dormitory even cheaper. Nevertheless, I decided to splurge a bit and went second class. A decision which turned out to be perfect: I shared my room with only one other Chinese. He was part of a larger group, spoke a bit of English and was most of the time Mahjong playing with his mates in their dorm. So I got kind of a single room for the price of an expensive dorm.

A Chinese cruise comes at a "cost" - other than money. The daily tour schedule did remain a mystery to most of us Westerners - despite the fact that most of us had copied down the essential itinerary when booking the tour at the various hostels. Since we all had different tour guides (depending on where the tour was booked), we could compare their service. A Chinese tour guide on a Chinese tour boat means for us Western tourist that we'd simply get the tickets for any excursions from them. The deal when booking the tour is - in fact - that we would have to gather information about the sites visited ourselves (from guidebooks or online resources). Some of these tour guides went the "extra mile" in telling us what we were about to see and by what time we'd have to be back to the ship. But most of the time we were left in the dark and followed the Chinese crowd clueless like lemmings. But we were laughing and guessing all the time about what we might possibly see next.

Another technicality was the bathroom infrastructure. Most of the time, there was no warm water. One afternoon, the Chinese roommate rushed into "my" room. He translated a speaker announcement that I just overheard in Chinese - "You! Must take shower now! Hot water until seven o'clock". I did not feel like taking a shower at half past six in the evening - but I did as the guy ordered. Oh yes - the shower rooms! They do actually consist of a small cubicle within the dormitory featuring the average Chinese squat toilet. A shower head mounted on the wall leaves no doubt about the secondary purpose of that area. Now - this poses the real problem: A standard Chinese plumbing seems to be geared towards alerting you whenever the person in the flat next door is making a poo. Smell therefore was the major problem for us Westerners since all these shower-toilets would simply deploy a very strong smell during twenty-four hours a day.

Since I didn't have the intention to stay indoors and watch Chinese soap operas on the telly, the piping smell didn't pose that big of a problem for me. Sitting on a deck-chair outside instead, I would watch the "Three Gorges" unfolding - while slowly realizing that I definitely arrived 14 years too late to this place. The construction of the Yangzi Three Gorges Dam - with the subsequent flooding - simply shaves 175 meters off on all gorges. This once was probably a breathtaking scenery. But watching hill tops on both shorelines wasn't too much exciting. This looked very much like the common Rhine river cruise back home. It was interesting - but far from being something sort of a "must see" in China. Even worse, since the relocation of the locals had to happen in only a couple of years, the shape of every settlement, village, city along the river consists of standardized concrete buildings - similar in shape, size and color. A plain ugly sight which might upset and create nightmares for any educated architect who might plan to visit the Yangzi.

Nevertheless, the whole trip was worth its money and I enjoyed it a lot. Because together with the other backpackers and the very welcoming Chinese tourists, we spent a lot of fun moments. This was definitely more entertaining and less expensive than the average Rhine river cruise.

Labels: China

posted by Reto at 10:25 1 Comments Links to this post

Urumqi's sound surroundings

Urumqi was a surprisingly nice stay, given the fact that the only reason to come here was an administrative stop for extending my Chinese visa. The town has a lot of markets - both Chinese and Uyghur. Nevertheless, a lot of these sites have become very touristic and it takes time to look beyond the purpose-built places to see some authenticity in the narrow alleys next to the main squares. I stayed in a perfect place, a new hostel downtown. However, the staff's lack of interest in their guests was mind blowing. In fact, guests would start to exchange hints and tips about the city among themselves. Relying on the staff was simply not an option, because they'd share only outdated information. They weren't even interested in updating false information. Urumqi grows very fast and it is of no surprise that most printed matter is wrong when it comes to addresses. Either street names change, places move or new facilities are being opened. This is happening at a pace, that both the Rough Guide and the Lonely Planet are virtually worthless in this town.

For example, the building of the Public Service Bureau (PSB, the official bureau which does visa extensions) is currently a construction site with a big hole. But the hostel staff would insist on keeping me sending there. Once I found out the correct, new address through the Internet, they weren't interested in recording that new location. Same happened for the directions to the Kyrgyz embassy (which - rumour has it - moves every six months).

As if this wasn't enough, they insisted that certain places simply do not exist. For example, I got a hint from a fellow Japanese guest in my dorm to book the train ticket in the downtown railway office instead of going all the way to the train station. This would be a much speedier place than the crowded station - at the expense of a small service fee. He wrote down the address on my map and upon leaving the hostel I casually asked the staff whether the downtown rail ticket office was still open at this time.

The lady of the house looked at me in sheer disbelief and said: "You must go to railway station for train ticket. No ticket office in town". So I went to the address indicated by the Japanese bloke where I actually found the official railway ticketing office. Within 15 Minutes I was all set and back to the hostel. When I told the same girl - by showing my rail ticket - that the service desk next to their place is actually open until 8pm, she shrugged and turned her head away.

To be fair, staff was quite interested. In things that were important to them. They were eager to write down how to say "Hello" and other things in various languages of the nations arriving to their place. And they were eager and very willing to teach anyone interested in Chinese language. But I wasn't. I was interested in the PSB and some other places of interest in Urumqi.

Towards the end of my stay, most of the guests had at least one similar story about the staff to share. The encountered ignorance and incompetence reminded me of "Fawlty Towers". I took up the habit of drinking a beer in the communal lounge next to the reception and watch naive new arrivals dealing with the staff. It was Fawlty Towers in real time and obviously I ended up calling one particular staff member "Basil". He was playing ego shooter games most of the day, monopolizing the dial-up Internet connection for which guests had to pay for. "Basil" was clearly annoyed by male guests. Most people found his new name to be quite appropriate and I wonder how long it will persist with him. Backpackers are very good and fast in relaying such important updates. Maybe they should run the place.

Anyhow, while waiting one week for my passport to be returned from the PSB, I decided to book tours to the surrounding areas of Urumqi. In theory, it is neither practical nor is it allowed to travel without passport in China. But what the heck - to me this was a sound decision. Actually, for the day trip to Tian Chi (Heavenly Lake), the lack of identification for potential lodging wasn't really posing a problem. An Irish girl from the hostel, Sue, was joining me and we set off on a Chinese tour bus early in the morning.

Although the entrance fee for the park at Tian Chi is quite steep, hordes of local Chinese were visiting the place. As they pay the same amount of money to access the place - which in their budget must be quite a setback - we wondered how important this place is to them. The souvenir stands at the park were abundant. We poked fun at all the hawkers trying to sell us useless stuff: As I still carry a dozen postcards from the Beijing Great Wall with me, I try to barter these into souvenirs. This being done with my very honest smile, I usually get a determined "No" as an answer. It's my perfect trick which works most of the time to get rid of the sellers. And hey, if I ever can trade in the postcards into something better - why shouldn't I try?

Before that trip, we were advised by other backpackers that it would be better to stay overnight at Tian Chi, because the crowds leave at sunset. This was very true. When we left in the afternoon, we could see the noisy bazaar closing down - leaving at the same time as the last tour bus. Unfortunately, Sue and I had only planned one day there, so we went back to Urumqi on that last bus without witnessing the "Heavenly Lake" in its peace and quietness.

The day before leaving Urumqi, we decided to explore Kanas Lake, in the Altai mountains, near the border of Russia and Kazakhstan. Usually, you would want to do this trip in three or more days. But both, Sue and I had only two days left and we decided to go as far as we could - even if we would have to abandon the trip halfway through because of time constraints. Moreover, Sue never used her tent and this was a welcome occasion for me as well to do some outdoor camping - let alone for only one night. Again, I was a bit worried because there were constant rumors about the need of getting an access permit to the area - which we blatantly ignored.

With the help of a Chinese traveler at the hostel, we managed to secure two seats on a minibus to Jiadengyu, where we arrived early in the afternoon. We were keen on going further immediately and so we started to hike towards Kanas, where we arrived around 8pm. Luckily the sun sets at around 9:30pm in the Xinjiang province - the Chinese standard time is that much off in this Western region. We put up a tent away from a small village and then we had some tea and biscuits. At night, I was amazed at how many stars one can see in this area (one fact which already amazed me - not that far away - in Mongolia). But it was surprisingly cold and so we decided to sleep inside the tent and the sleeping bags.

We discovered next morning that we were just about 3km from the southern end of the Kanas Lake (thank you Wikipedia for the GPS coordinates...). Therefore, we continued to walk towards our target. We weren't disappointed at all - the views were magnificent and worth the strenuous hike to this place. But soon enough it was time to return home - a bit disappointing, because this area definitely invites for a multi day trip around the lake shores. And supposedly, there is a strange creature living in the waters, but we could not spot any - given the short time we stayed there.

On the way back, we started to calculate at what time we'd arrive back in Urumqi. I had a train to catch and Sue a flight. And the GPS is unforgiving in calculating the ETA. Our Plan "B" was to hitch hike as far back as we could, since we saw a number of 4WD's the day before. They were driving on the dirt road next to our hiking trail. So we decided to walk back along the road. After half an hour we got successfully picked up by a local who was heading to Shihezi, a town near Urumqi. A godsend, because we already started dealing with Plan "C", which would have simply meant to reschedule both our onward journeys. Enthusiastically, we invited our driver, a cuddly old Chinese-Mongolian, for lunch before he dropped us off a couple of hours later at the bus station in Shihezi.

Surprisingly, we did not spot any check-points where we might have been in serious trouble because we were probably lacking proper access permits. Sue and I made it back to Urumqi in time, knowing that our hiking plan had the potential to fail in many ways - but it didn't.

Labels: China

posted by Reto at 05:08 0 Comments Links to this post

19 June 2008

Locked up in Urumqi

Side alley where the extras for the Olympic Torch Relay were rehearsing.

So there was the "Olympic Torch Relay" in Urumqi on June 17th. And I was waiting for the processing of my Chinese visa extension and hanging around the place anyway. Obviously, this Olympic event would be a welcome change from the usual sightseeing. So I was decided to join the local crowd and cheer in tune for the upcoming 2008 games in Beijing.

But this is China and things are - this year - a bit complicated. Urumqi is located in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, near the Kazhakh and Kyrgyz border. Most of the local people - the Uyghur - have more in common with the people of the neighbouring countries, than with the (Han-)Chinese from mainland China. Similarities are the roots of their language, the food and the religion. Beijing is far away, which helps to keep the pioneering Wild West spirit alive everywhere around here. Consequently, Xinjiang is considered suspicious by the motherland and the average Chinese believes that this province is a very dangerous place full of potential terrorists.

Therefore, special security measures were put in place for the "Olympic Torch Relay" in Urumqi. As tourists - being in a hostel in a central downtown area - we were notified the day before the torch relay, that we had to stay inside the guesthouse between 7am and 2pm during the next day. Assuming that Chinese people get quite excited about the Olympics, I personally didn't believe that we weren't allowed to go outside the hostel. Nevertheless, I stocked up on food. Being optimist, I also bought two small flags, since I wanted to blend in with the locals during the event.

Just before the police locked us up in the hostel.

Just before the police locked us up in the hostel.

However, things got a bit suspicious that same evening before the torch relay. There were military trucks moving into the city, joining the already increasingly visible police force. Some groups of men in black jumpsuits also drew my attention (I think it was a kind of a special force). Guests arriving later back to the hostel that evening, reported that their documents were checked by police and that they had spotted bomb squads checking out bridges near our place. We were then further informed by the hostel staff that there would be no electricity between 7am and 2pm next day. So we should take precautions in case we needed a shower or go to the toilet. Still, I could not really believe that this was serious.

Next morning though, after waking up and walking towards the common showers, I discovered that the battery powered emergency light was on. Definitely, the power had been cut off. After grabbing my torchlight, I selfishly used up the last remaining warm water out of the boiler to get a shower. After having grabbed my two flags and the camera to go outside, I got a glimpse - together with other tourists - at what was going on. But we didn't get really that far. Police (speaking to my surprise perfect English) ordered us to stop taking pictures and go back into the hostel. They followed us and ordered the staff to lock the door by shutting down the blinds.

After the party.

Just before our place was definitely closed, one Japanese friend - who adjusted his travel plans for the very purpose to come and see the "Olympic Torch Relay" - came back to the hostel. He sneaked out of the area before 7am to get the best spot for viewing. Police ordered him to leave that area and they escorted him back to the hostel.

Being locked in the first floor of the guest house, we could witness at least the preparatory events in the side street linking to the relay route. Students in uniformed Coca-Cola shirts were hauled in by bus. Other groups arriving in batches were factory workers wearing the Olympic Noodle sponsor shirt. All of them passed a checkpoint where some of them rehearsed their proper cheering - then they marched to their assigned viewpoint. Everything was meticulously orchestrated and I was amazed at how quickly local residents and foreign tourists can be replaced in such a large area.

Obviously, there was no way to watch television to see what was going on about 50m around the corner of our building. Being locked in a guesthouse without electricity felt a bit like during the civil war in Congo. (To be fair, here in Urumqi we had at least running water, which wasn't the case back in Brazzaville). As the day grew older, the sun heated up the common rooms - shut windows and the lack of air conditioning were contributing their part to create an atmosphere where some people started to freak out a bit. Surprisingly, the - otherwise calm - Japanese tourists were among the strongest voices stating their disgust at the overall situation.

Locked up

Thomas, who stayed in a neighbouring hotel - away from the torch relay route - was not affected by all this hassle. We texted each other to reschedule, since our plan to visit the event together clearly went downhill. At 1pm we got back the electricity and a little later, police ordered to open doors and windows of our guesthouse. Finally, we were allowed to leave the building and I rejoined Thomas and his girl-friend. The Orchestra (aka: the crowd) was gone as quickly as it appeared. And the streets looked quite empty for a moment, since it took some time for the unorganized locals (aka: the real people) to settle back into the center of the city.

This event leaves me with some mixed feelings. I am actually quite annoyed by the fact that the IOC seems to agree with the fact that this years' games will be held as a self-celebration of the power in place. At least the Urumqi "Olympic Torch Relay" was a staged celebration as fake as the average Swiss watch being sold everywhere here. But then again: Witnessing such strange events is also one of the reason we travel.

Labels: China

posted by Reto at 12:34 0 Comments Links to this post

17 June 2008

The belts of Turpan

The ramp and infamous pit hiding the flaming mountains from the tourists

Traveling towards China's Wild West along the silk road, there is a major oasis in the desert - called Turpan. Here we stopped to see various archaeological sites and stunning sceneries. In China - as elsewhere on the world - you need to pay for access to all the attractions. But the Chinese sometimes go a step further. So they do with the beautiful "Flaming mountains" (red sandstone hills in the Tian Shan mountains who have eroded over time). They are visible from almost everywhere along the highway around Turpan and we got plenty of scenic shots while visiting other sites nearby.

However, officially the visit to these mountains consists of being taken to a fenced-off location where a ramp leads tour buses into a large pit. There, about 5m below the flat desert surface, the parking lot is surrounded by souvenir shops and - most importantly - a ticket booth with an entrance gate to an upstairs platform next to the highway. I almost peed in my pants laughing so hard upon seeing this absurdity. And yes, there are definitely tourists paying the entrance fee instead of backing up the entrance ramp to take a picture from the mountains.

Jiahoe ruins

Another impressive sight are the Karez, an important Uyghur invention of water wells that are dug horizontally and are linked together by canals. This is quite ingenious and worth a visit - although the site has become a major tourist attraction containing a small amusement park next to it. Near Turpan, there are also the locations of Gaochang and Jiaohe, silk road ruins. Gaochang burned down in the 14th century, while Jiaohe was destroyed by the Mongolians in the 13th century. Both sites are quite impressive and it took Thomas and me the better part of the day to explore these ruins.

The Turpan Depression had actually nothing to do with our mood. It's simply the area's name, which is on an altitude of 154m below sea level - the second lowest after the Dead Sea. The region is very dry, very hot and sand storms are very common here. The heavy roadworks downtown do not help that situation. Winds are blowing sand from unfinished construction sites into any direction and having two showers a day was definitely the absolute minimum for us. Nevertheless, some areas of the city are finished, featuring grapevine trellises in pedestrian areas where it is hard to resist just sitting down a whole afternoon drinking some tea and eating Uyghur food. We can perfectly imagine how Turpan will look like in a couple of years and I might be back again in that city.

Streets of Turpan

If it wasn't for the Chinese signs everywhere in Turpan, one would think being somewhere in Central Asia. And I have no troubles to communicate in Uyghur, a language with a lot of resemblance to Uzbek and Kazach. Most shops and road signs actually are bilingual in Arabic and Chinese. So, here I am, walking around with a big smile on my face, because this is the break from "Chinese overload" that I was looking forward to.

Rediscovering good food, such as Laghman (spicy Uzbek noodle soup) and Manti (actually "Manta" in Uyghur for dumplings the Central Asian way) made my day. And seeing again Shashlik Gigar (skewered liver) was the icing on the cake - this probably comes as a surprise for mum, since back home I despise liver. Thomas prefers Chinese and both of us are craving sometimes for Western style food. Needless to say that we have a lot of variation in meals which is absolutely perfect. But despite three hot meals every day we keep on loosing weight. I used to close my belt at the outermost hole when starting the trip. Now I am at "hole number five". Same goes for Thomas. We might therefore shop for some new belts on the Turpan night market...

Labels: China

posted by Reto at 10:00 1 Comments Links to this post

15 June 2008

Eat my dust - Jiayuguan

Visiting the most western point of the Chinese Wall was somewhat interesting. Located five to nine kilometers outside the city of Jiayuguan, the historic sites of interest are easily accessible by bicycle. Although the ride was very refreshing and the overall temperatures were nice, we soon discovered that this region suffers from heavy sand storms. One part of the problem cycling through a sand storm is the fact that your eyes are constantly crying out the dirt, the other problem is the sheer force of the wind which - Murphy's law at its best - is blowing all the time against the general direction of the journey.

Aside from the touristic spots around the the city of Jiayuguan, I also liked the downtown area. It's manageable to visit by foot - and people are very friendly and helpful. Thomas and I tried our best to order food in one Uyghur restaurant. Usually, we would order the same dish that someone else already had ordered and which would nice enough to us. But this time, we were the first guests. Therefore, we used a dictionary throughout the entire ordering process. The waitress was patiently waiting and writing down the various parts of the meals. Although we weren't quite sure whether she understood everything, we got essentially the food we ordered. Eat this!

Also, the city has the usual park where locals meet during sunrise to dance or play music. It is always very peaceful to watch these crowds and the sports park downtown Jiayuguan was a perfect location for this.

Near the obvious and recommended visit of the Fort lie the extreme western points of the Chinese wall, called "The Hanging Great Wall". It's a bit over-restored and looks shiny and brand new. Also, there is no resemblance from a size aspect to what we've seen so far north of Beijing in terms of the Great Wall. This "Hanging Great Wall" is very small (or: not so Great). Most probably any enemy would have died laughing about this ridiculous mud structure. Moreover, the length of this "restored" wall was about 700 meters each side - just perfect for a photo shoot. Upon leaving the site, Thomas and I were unsure whether we just fell into a tourist trap and whether we just had visited a bogus structure some local tourist bureau made up. But it didn't really matter, since we had a good laugh thinking of how difficult it would have been to spot this fence-sized structure from space.

The number of sand storms in China is very surprising to me. Heading further west, Jiayuguan is actually just a staging post for things to come along my journey as I will cover more desert lands. However, already here the sand, dust and plastic shopping bags are whirling through the storms. Therefore, eating dust is literally unavoidable - being on a bike or on foot. Being hit by some flying plastic bags provides memorable moments of loosing sight in dense rush hour traffic. It is a funny and amazing experience as a visiting tourist: We found ourselves standing for a long time just watching how the locals would cope with the nature of shopping bags and aerodynamics. But China is eager to improve the situation. There is talk about a government law mandating to charge for plastic bags in stores in an effort to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste. Therefore, the spectacle of flying shopping bags in the roads of Jiayuguan might be soon a thing of the past.

Labels: China

posted by Reto at 14:13 1 Comments Links to this post

11 June 2008

The Deepest Blues Are Black in Dunhuang

Dunhuang, located in the Hexi corridor, greeted Thomas and me with a beautiful sunrise upon arriving at the train station. This railway line is actually very new and not in any of the guidebooks. It is one of the many infrastructure improvements I have encountered so far in China. The station building is located about 4km from the town center, a minibus runs irregularly to downtown Dunhuang for about 3 Yuan. Nevertheless, we opted to share a taxi which dropped us in front of a hotel. A twin room ("standard room") was advertised for about 280 Yuan and we managed to bring that price down to 80 Yuan. This is quite amazing, since the per person cost was the same as the price for a bed in a dormitory room in a major city.

Later that day, we went to visit the White Horse Pagoda, a nice stroll for about three kilometers. Since Thomas also has a GPS device - a real "Garmin", I had to challenge him with my Nokia E61, plus Bluetooth-GPS. We both marked the way point for the start of our journey. But here's the catch: None of our guidebooks (Thomas uses a German translation of the "Rough guide", while I am using the Lonely Planet one) features GPS coordinates for sights. This actually might be very useful for smaller towns - like Dunhuang - where the small scribbly map doesn't cover the places to go. So we set off for the Pagoda, knowing only that we had to walk 3km to the West. After about 6km, we decided to start asking people for the exact way. Not too bad thinking that men usually never bother asking for directions. Unfortunately, none of our guidebooks would give the name of the sight in Chinese and I finished by downloading a picture - using the GPRS connection of my Nokia E61 - asking directions by showing the image to people. To our surprise this worked very well with the Chinese who pointed us then into the right direction. From that place back, we tried to use the way points taken before the stroll to make out the winner of the GPS devices. Mine won. (Don't read Thomas' blog as he might not agree with my view of the winning).

The entrance fees, however, are a mixed bag of experience in Dunhuang. Aside of the Pagoda, the main attractions are the Mogao Caves and the Sand Mountain. All of these attractions charge entrance fees that are not short of any major Chinese attraction, such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an. Moreover, the sand dunes are overexploited by the tourism business - even for my standards (and I am usually not really picky about touristic places). The complete area of the Dunes is separated by a fence to make sure you'd have to pay to go to the Dunes. Once you enter, you'd have a choice to walk up a well-prepared path (with stairs) or get carried up by a golf cart. We opted to take some pictures from in front the fence and save the entrance fee for the next day's big attraction: The Mogao Caves.

We set out to these caves on the second day where I paid the most expensive entrance fee so far for any of tourist places visited on my journey. There are about 500 caves featuring Buddhist art of the last 1000 years. There are only a small number (20 caves or so) which are open at a given time. Even this small number of caves already contains quite an astonishing sampling of ancient history and the entrance fee was definitely well spent. However, to get access to the caves, you'd have to go with a tour (where the guide unlocks the cave doors and gives some explanations). We still managed to save some money: We decided to go with the Chinese tour for 160 Yuan - instead of paying an extra 20 Yuan to have the foreign language guided tour.

Unfortunately, it is absolutely and strictly forbidden to take any pictures inside the caves, which was a bit of a put off. Google Image Search provides quite a lot of photographs of tourists having sneaked cameras into the caves. We didn't manage to find an unattended moment there to take pictures. Therefore, posting black pictures of the caves' content would have been an appropriate illustration of our disappointment about the photography rules. But I chose blue skies instead - because overall, the Mogao Caves are worth the visit and the money. And after all - we were allowed to keep this fascinating place in our minds' memories.

Labels: China

posted by Reto at 14:09 0 Comments Links to this post

08 June 2008

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Lanzhou

Lanzhou is a major hub for journeys going from East to West of China, or from South to North. The city's station is also connected to the modern Lhasa express train line which features a separate waiting room for travelers to Tibet. Although most backpackers choose to stay in this city solely to stock up on food and wait for their visas to be sorted out, there are some nice areas that make such a stop a very pleasant one.

One of these sights is the Muslim area. Numerous mosques, medresas and minarets are emphasizing the important Chinese Muslim community living in this city. The markets on the Chinese side of the silk road look very similar to their counterparts in Central Asia. They are full of colorful spices and scents. People are very friendly and curious. But I was definitely chuffed when receiving a warm and welcoming smile - and invitations to homes - when using my basic Uighur small talk phrases. Finally, I stopped worrying about the lack of communication in China and I definitely felt somehow like "back home" in Central Asia.

I am worried about how little Chinese I do know after all these weeks in China. This yields in absurd situations. The youth hostel in Lanzhou, for example, is a very welcoming place. But it is not the usual backpacker spot which would help to facilitate things and break down language barriers for Western tourists. In fact, I was the only English speaking guest during my stay there. The owner of the place is very friendly and he asked me to sit with him and his friends for dinner upon my arrival. Obviously, there was some drinking involved since there was no point of talking. We emptied quite quickly two bottles of chinese "wine" at 53%, plus a couple of beers and I had some introduction into the local, spicy food. To my surprise, one of the dish consisted of a kind of "Polenta" (mashed corn) into which you'd dip spicy gravy and some vegetables. The result was very tasty and ranks among my favorite food here in Western China. However, verbal communication was non-existing during that evening.

Together with another "newbie" - a Japanese tourist - I made my way back to the dorm quite drunk at around 2am. Next morning, I discovered that there were no showers for the dorms. Luckily, the Japanese bloke spoke some English and some Chinese. He managed to convince the reception staff to allow us to have a shower in one of the vacant twin rooms which are having a bathroom. During the following days, we repeated the same ritual and I guess that the youth hostel probably will provide this kind of extra service to the next "Long Noses" showing up in Lanzhou.

Another major Chinese communication exercise was to get the hostel staff to understand that I wanted my laundry done. Quite soon, they understood that my clothes were dirty and needed a wash (hey, I am not good at gestures - my clothes simply stank...) - but then the room lady started to nod. Why? Unsure what this meant and knowing that each place has its own "laundry rules" (in some hostels, guests use the washing machine - while in other places only the staff will operate the machines), I started to ask about who would have to do the laundry. This was a question too much.

It was absolutely funny to watch a simple question sparking a ten minutes debate evolving in a major rally for the Chinese hostel staff. After all, I only asked to have my laundry done. Was I really the only guest having this kind of request? Although this question probably never will be answered, a bill of 10 yuan ended the discussion quite abruptly. And later that day I found my cleaned clothes drying and hanging all over the various dorm beds in our room.

The second last day of my stay in Lanzhou, Thomas arrived with his girlfriend, Xiaoyan. While she later set off for Beijing, Thomas and I started to make plans to work our way towards the Wild West of China for the next couple of weeks. The three of us spent one rainy day in the city of Lanzhou. Omitting purposely to count the snow storm day when arriving in Ulan Bator (Mongolia), this was in fact the very first rainy day since I left Switzerland. Given the fact that Xiaoyan is Chinese - speaking perfect English, communication with the hostel staff suddenly turned out to be as smooth as silk. Traveling through China is somewhat a strange love for me and finally, I could stop worrying and love Lanzhou - at least for that day when Xiaoyan was with us.

Labels: China

posted by Reto at 09:20 2 Comments Links to this post

05 June 2008

Celebrity makeover in Tianshui

Arriving in Tianshui was a complete contrast to the Chinese cities I've encountered so far. Tianshui consists of two towns linked together by a highway: Qincheng and Beidao. Trains arrive in the latter one, where traffic and people are quite busy. Although this is certainly not the nicest area of Tianshui, people are very friendly and they made my decision to stay there easy. Also, my hotel, near the train station, seemed to be a good strategic move as there was a good infrastructure for food, Internet and bars.

Being the only non-Chinese guy in a city of 400'000 people was a neck turner for most locals. When going to the supermarket to buy a shampoo - I tend to leave them behind in showers a lot, isn't it Peer? ;) - I quickly found myself surrounded by at least four helpful shop assistants. This shopping experience was somehow a mixed feeling between being amused and annoyed. It was quite hard to convince the ladies, that I didn't care about the brand - as long as it was cheap. There's not much hair left on my head and I casually use shampoos as a substitute for shower gel. Hey, my Rucksack is already heavy enough. In China doing so is essential: The shower gels contain mostly some skin bleaching chemicals which I really don't fancy. I figured out that explaining this to the shop assistants would not be essential.

Before entering the store actually I had to deposit my day pack at the locker desk. By the time I left, the girl handing back my bag was blushing and giggling.
That moment I had an idea: Why not let the public (the locals) be entertained by a tall strange looking guy (a Westerner)?

Therefore, feeling like a celebrity, I decided to perform on the streets by doing the excursion from Beidao to Qincheng by foot. According to the Lonely Planet guidebook, the distance was only about 5 to 6 km. That was a perfect length to walk and enjoy the fame. Unfortunately, the Lonely Planet map for this area was yet another inaccurate one (the last one was the city map of Tomsk, Russia). If I'd spoken with the locals - instead of showing off - they'd have pointed out the correct distance: 16 km. Walking that far by constantly having to wave, smile and greet is a burden. I now know, how Queen Elisabeth must feel. And if this wasn't enough as punishment, when arriving in Qincheng, I had just enough time to catch the last bus back
to Beidao.

Nevertheless, being immersed in a complete Chinese environment is both interesting and challenging. The receptionist would not want (emphasis on want) to understand that I wanted to stay two nights. One night was OK, but anything beyond that was "Mejo" (no). So I decided to do the same. I did not want to understand her. After the first night, I packed everything before leaving for the day trip. I figured, if the hotel really was full and they truly needed my room, they only would have to grab my backpack, which would make things easier for them as well as for me (knowing that nothing else was left in the room behind). To my surprise, when I returned that evening, my room was untouched and I thus was able to enjoy a second night - exactly as I wanted.

Although news about the earthquake (dubbed casually as "5/12") is omnipresent in China, I am witnessing here for the first time the real consequences. Yes, I have so far seen numerous trucks with "Earthquake relief" banners elsewhere in China - but the streets of the twin city of Tianshui offered me with a hint of the magnitude of this natural disaster. Tents with relocated families from the neighboring Sechuan province are omnipresent. These shelters are virtually everywhere - even in front of tourist attractions and in the centers downtown. It feels a bit odd to wander around with a camera, being a curious tourist. Nevertheless, these homeless people were very friendly and I guess my appearance made the day for the kids who had to exchange their home against a place next to busy streets.

Labels: China

posted by Reto at 09:54 1 Comments Links to this post

01 June 2008

May in Review: More Pictures

By clicking on the respective album picture, you should be taken to a small selection of exclusive pictures which I have taken during the month of May while being in Siberia, Mongolia and China.