http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Xinjiang en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:10:05 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:10:05 BST David and I reached new heights I will let him tell you. Yesterday we went over the Khunjerab Pass into the Hunza Valley Pakistan. We went through many passport checks and we were also on a 4800 meter 15000 feet mountain. It was snowing at the pass and it was VERY windy. After a while I started seeing 7400 meter mountains 23000 feet and they had a tiny bit if lust on the top lay http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-304781.html We are in Tashkurgan a few km from the Pakistan border and not far from Tajikistan for those of you checking out the map. Altitude is near 4000 meters the highest David has been to. Scenery on the highway from Kashgar yesterday was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We are really in Central Asia now Kazak and Tajik people and different environment. We saw some Yaks and Camels yesterd http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-304132.html Yesterday we went to Heaven's Lake. It took 3 hours to get there but it all paid off with a Gondola ride up the steep mountain. Then we ate at a local hotel restaurant. After we were picked up by what looked like golf carts and driven to Heaven Lake. My first impression was the water it looked really clear maybe the clearest water I've ever seen of course the water was melted glaciers . Lu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-303429.html With our visit in Urumqi we were in the capital of Xinjiang a province as big as Alaska. David was impressed with the 5star hotel. A 3 hour drive through the country took us to Heaven's Lake where we enjoyed a gondola ride up mountain and boat ride on the lake. Then a night trip by air to Kashgar. Today we are taking it a little easy opting out of the morning excursion and catching u http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-303416.html Last night I had a full sleep finally 9 12 hours. We visited the Terra Cotta Soldier Museum and this time I wasn't sleepy so I was ready to see the SoildersAll of the Soldiers were taller than my grandpa and they looked pretty nice considering they were underground for a LONG time. The Soldiers were there to protect the Emperor's tomb. We watched a Cinemax movie after. It explained about http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-302250.html Today we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors and the site of the Qin Dynasty's Emperor's Tomb. It is truly an 8th wonder of the world both physically and in its impact. This was the first emperor of China. He was so arrogant of his power and sure of his eternal glory not to mention murderous to his people that he employed 34 million people slaves for nearly 40 years to guard him in th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-302186.html DAVID I'm finally in China after the LONG plane trip 13 hours straight. It wasn't fun at all but at least I'm out of that plane. I don't really feel so well at the moment and i don't like Chinese food all the time. I really miss everyone at home badly LOU Yes indeed we are tired and as you can tell David is a bit overwhelmed. He was surprised to learn that we would be eating Chines http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-301846.html THE PLANETARY SOCIETY CHINArsquoS SILK ROAD HUNZA TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITIONJuly 17 August 3 2008 DAILY ITINERARY See map on May 31 entry DAYS 12 USA TO HONG KONGThursFri July 1718Expedition members on group flight check in at Los Angeles International Airportfor Cathay Pacific flight 883 to Hong Kong.1145 pm Los Angeles passengers depart on CX883 for Hong Kong. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-298533.html I enter China high in the Tian Shan mountains through the Torugart Pass. At 3700m above sea level it's about 2.5 times the height of Ben Nevis and you can really feel it. The scenery however is spectacular.I'd heard the Chinese border crossing can be difficult but less than an hour later I'm heading down out of the moutnains to the Uighar city of Kashgar. The Uighars are descendents of middle http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-297337.html I love getting into the Sunday NY Times. Today they had an article by Helene Cooper about engagement vs. isolation in politics. article The subject of engagement is a big part of my trip. Engaging with China is an important issue for the world and for the space program and being a tourist at this time of Tibetan rights human rights issues Islam secular mixes all in the part of the w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-296147.html morning guys ..ladies too please ..kinda new to this computer stuff old hippie living in the woods of alaska ..radio link to web ..learning to type ..got a bad habit called k2 ..get some extra dollars in my pocket ..well that's where i head ..pakistan was safer a decade ago ..china side very demanding treck ..lotz of fun ..camels ..shaskam river valley ..local camel men ..great guys ..smoked all m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-294591.html We are getting ready for our trip and today is David's first entry. I asked him are you excited and what are you looking forward to gtI am looking forward to seeing a solar eclipse nice scenery and foreign people. And yes I am pretty excited I'm nervous about getting sick on the plane though... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-294171.html we have spent 5 days in tashkurgan the border town of china before pakistan trying to get past the chinese immigration. the chinese immigration will not let us EXIT their country because we do not have a onward pakistan visa. us being very smart and prepared travellers have read up information that we can get a visaonarrival at sost pakistan. the chinese have refused us exit as they cannot http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-288319.html Travels along the Silk RoadsFrom Turpan we headed north via the capital of Xinjiang Urumqi and it's rather wonderful museum. We got a guided whirlwind tour through the collections including an entire section on the different peoples that make up Xinjiang's population a history of the region and a number of mummies. The highlight for me was the absolutely charming captions on the exhibits my http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-287933.html So after a 13hr train ride we arrived in Xian and booked into our hotel. Xian is so cool its the old capital of china i think and had the cool wall that use to run all aroud it but the city has expanded so much that its also outside of the walls. so once we had checked in our tour leader showed us around alittle and we decided to go to the muslim area and look around. it was a cool part of t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-287222.html HelloThe night train to Xi'an to Beijing was an interesting experience. Our tour leader Mark scared us with stories about the Chinese train boarding skills as everyone crams on all at once with a lot of pushing and shoving. But the fears were relatively unfounded as we boarded without any dramas. The hard sleeper carriages were divided into six bunk compartments without a door way so everyon http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-284924.html We have now been given a detailed new itinerary for the Eclipse tour group. It eliminates Chengdu of course that area is devastated by the Earthquake and has a lon road to recovery. It is still not possible for foreigners to plan travel to Tibet and this trip goes through the magnificent scenery of the Silk Road area of Western China Xinjiang and the Hunza Valley in Pakistan. See map http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-284870.html Sorry for the big break between entries but accessing an internet cafe in Xinjiang has turned out to be pretty difficult. Well not its almost over. I'll try to recap what has happened in the last week or so as the majority of events have not been that interesting. After the great time in Turpan we Miles Saskia and Myself took a bus to Urumqi where I rushed to try to get a bus to Tian C http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-283223.html after 3 days without a fullbody shower a test to both my sanity and buttocks i have finally reached kashgar the final frontier of china. kashgar is a city in the autonomous region of xinjiang. this place is nothing like china the people way of life infrastructure. if not for the chinese signs that are put in place by the government one would think that you are in central asia. historica http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-282849.html the past 4872hrs or so have been an exercise in cultivating patience and zen and inner peace haha. having been on board 2 backtoback 24 hr train ride the solitude and serenity that engulfs you is really ameliorative. most unnerving of cos was sending the sms to nus to ask for my results having tried in vain the night before to outsmart the system by trying to log in early. hahaha but of cos i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-282753.html We are still in a state of uncertain planning. Tibet remains closed to foreigners and hence we can't get visas there. That may or may not change but we have to apply for visas now. That uncertainty has caused some people to cancel their trip others are quite willing to change to the Silk Road Hunza trip see map. The other uncertainty is about the first stop Chengdu point 1 which http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-282255.html Since we last spoke I was getting ready to go to the Mogao caves which were in Dunhuang Gansu province. They were allright although the fact that I only had a Chinese guide didn't help my understanding of the history much. I got up late went to the caves then bascially came back packed up and caught my minibus to the Liuyuan train station from which I caught my train to Turpan Xinjiang http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Turpan/blog-281042.html Still alive if anyone wondersS The earthquake was near enough to feel the shake but far enouch to do any harm. Anyway right now I'm in Urumqi Xinjiang provence a place where most foreigners don't go to when they are in China and probably a wonder to alot of chinese too. Xinjiang is mixpot of chinese ethnic minorities with uyghurs as the leading one around 9 million of population thus its http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Urumqi/blog-277503.html The second half of my trip through China has been so different from the first part that Its hard to believe its all one country. Just about everything is different except the money which goes further the further west you go.After posting the last blog I settled down to some serious travel covering a couple of thousand Km by sleeper train bus and jeep. The route took me round Tibet not allowed http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-277492.html We received information yesterday from Betchart saying that Tibet is closed to westerners until the end of June after the Olympic torch passes through Lhasa and thus visas for the trip cannot be processed. They have recommended that people switch to the China Silk Road and Hunza Valley trip same dates ending up in Altai China or Mongolia for the eclipse viewing. This trip has no prob http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/blog-274801.html May 1 2008According to the information in the ldquoLonely Planetrdquo on China the border with Pakistan opens on the 15th of April sometimes later. This year the border opened on the 1st of May and I made sure to be one of the first to cross it.A few days earlier I drove the camper up from Gilgit to Sust and witnessed the first sign of awakening spring and receding winter. It wasnrsquot c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-273106.html Salaam aleykumZoals bekend konden we onze Tibetaanse plannen definitief opbergen na de Chinese invasie in het hoogland. Gelukkig konden we plan B nog uit de kast halen. De weg naar Xinjiang was lang erg lang maar onze uiteindelijke bestemming bleek de moeite waard. Vanuit Chengdu namen we een 21uur durende trein tot Lanzhou om daar een aansluiting te nemen tot Urumqi dat 25 uur treinen verder http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-260668.html The Silk Road has been connecting people for centuries bridging spice traders with silk caravans long before backpackers every discovered its trails. It was here in the most accidental fashion that I met people from every corner of the world. I had come to Xinjiang China to experience its unique and singularly Uyghur culture. Instead it is the unexpected diversity that makes Kashgar the cr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Xinjiang/Kashgar/blog-260176.html