Total Eclipse (of the heart, sun)

One lazy day in Tiger Leaping Gorge (Yunnan province), we started planning our next adventures. As we consulted our guidebook and prepared to travel further south, a nice British lad suggested we check out Xinjiang.

Xinjiang - the Chinese province that borders Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, and Tibet and houses the Taklamakan and part of the Gobi Desert, along with the southern reaches of the Siberian Taiga.

Why we hadn't thought of this earlier was beyond us, but from that moment forward, our sights were set on the Northwest.

Some of our most memorable moments from our travels in Northwest China included a camel trek complete with desert camp-out under the stars, a trip with our first Chinese tour group to the breathtaking blues and greens of Kanas Lake (northern Xinjiang), a TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE!, lots of great Uigher and Hui (ethnic minorities in Xinjiang) food, and the best melon we have ever tasted in the city of Hami (the Chinese name for melon is Hamigua - this city is where it got it's name).

Another very memorable part of travelling the Northwest during this tumultuous time in China was the dramatic increase in police presence, secuirity check-points, and restrictions for foreigners - something we had previously barely experienced. This meant being kicked out of our mom & pop hotel in Urumqi because the hotel didn't have the permit required to accept foreigners. After being kicked out at 12:30am we were offered some other "appropriate" hotel choices which were all 4 or 5 stars (about 8 stars above the places we usually stay ...) and were way too expensive. The bright side of this was that our eviction resulted in an interesting introduction to the bathouses of China (see pictures).

Along with the hassles of frequently checked passports and restricted paths, there was also the real presence of violence as there were bombings in two cities (Kashgar and Khotan) while we were in Xinjiang province. What we gathered, was that these bombings were in protest of the way ethnic minorities in the area are treated by the Chinese government and were conducted at a time when all eyes are on China, (however if anyone has more information on these events and would like to post a comment please feel free). On our way out of the province, a Han Chinese woman on the train eagerly attributed the Xinjiang attacks to the conflict with Tibet, specifically the Dalai Lama, who seems to be a common scapegoat for any and all uprisings right now whether they are related or not. The Dalai Lama was described to us by a co-worker as 'a selfish man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants ...' (sigh)

So, after a stop in Xi'an (terracotta warriors! pics and commentary to come - we can't upload photos at this internet bar) we made our way to Beijing! And it is from here that we write this entry. Check out the photos on this post for more details about our Xinjiang adventures and stay tuned for Olympic wonderment!

Adios.

p.s. Please check back at a later time, as we will add a video or two from the Eclipse Day, 2008. Thanks!

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