apoorva

A monument built hundreds of years ago, which took thousands of years and various empires and the lives of their slaves, to complete, reconstruct and extend, to keep out the dangerously wild horsemen of Mongolia and save the poor, peace loving innocent farmers of China. I was going to be part of that history with my little black umbrella on a cold day in September. I'd booked a tour with the downtown backpackers hostel and we were set all set to leave at 8 am. The hike was 6km long and was between Jinshanling and Sumatai. A section of the wall that hadn't been renovated. It is 3 hours away from Beijing and that's half the reason its been left alone. Hardly any tourists out here, and very very few hawkers. Had a pleasant ride on ... read more

My last day in Urumqi was spent wandering around the city. On the onset, Urumqi looks like any other Chinese city. A city that has been pumping up development, especially in the last few years and is relatively young. According to wikipedia it used to be a major part of the silk route and since the 1990's has been developed economically and is a transport node. It is the gateway into China from the West. More than anything else, Urumqi's unique location and its influence on the city, can be understood by taking a closer look at its demography. As I mentioned in a post before this,'The other side of China', there is a 75.3 % population of the Han chinese, 12% Uighers and others, Mongols, Kazhaks, Uzbeks, Russians, Tibetian, Manchu among others make the rest. ... read more

While looking for places to visit around Urumqi, the place that struck me most was the Mogao caves near Dunhuang. Although mentioned as a 2 to 3 day trip, I figured if we go by the overnight train we should have the good part of one day enough to be able to see the caves. One image of a 9 tiered pagoda embedded in a cliff was enough to make me want to go there. We reached Liu yuan at 7 am, the station seemed small and the weather outside was cool. After 'Unexpected Urumqi', I'd almost forgotten why I'd booked these tickets-to come all the way here. Looking at the available options for a ride to Dunhuang, we took the most inexpensive and fast option, a minibus. So, after a five hour plane journey across ... read more

I've been working in Shanghai for 1 month now. If i am not getting very far with the language... one sure shot of way of getting to know the Chinese people is to eat their food ! The language of food comes quite close to that of love! Its a necessity, we all need to eat, so why not? Some of these food explorations i did on my own. Struggling to explain what I want. Pointing at pictures or the displayed food.. The waiter telling me something in Chinese, me giving my best 'I don't know what u r talking about expression', followed by a meek smile ! always follow with a smile... Then of course they'll just give you what they think u want and show you how much it costs on a calculator.. Some ... read more

The hills around Luilian are really worth getting up early in the morning for. We set out to see Tulous at 7, the three of us, alice's father in Law, my mother and me, all on one motorbike. It's not that I haven't done triplets on a bike before; in college in Ahmedabad we do it all the time. There it's with other people who are just as crazy as me. But here it was going to be, a middle aged, jovial, heavily tanned Chinese man and my mother. And the funniest part was that I was the only one who was concerned about it. Even though I knew we intended to travel this way for a whole day, in rain or sunshine, village paths, gravel, paved areas, concreted roads, steep slopes, gentle meadows, yet I ... read more