Xinjiang Experiences

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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 Chi (Heavenly Lake) where the plan was to stay in a yurt with a Kazhak (sp?) family. It was no to be though, as the last bus had already departed. Instead, I booked tickets for a day trip the next day, and checked into a hostel with Saskia and Miles. After a little bit of relaxation, we went out for dinner, which was Xinjiang food at picnic tables, which was really nice and relaxing. After this, we walked around the night market, which was a sight -- so full of people.

The next day, I got up early and headed out to Tian Chi. It really was a beautiful lake, and as much as I dislike Chinese tours, I think that it was worth going. I had about 1.5 hours to myself, where I was able to hike a little bit around the lake, and get a little better sense of solitude. I can't wait to upload the pictures, but the computers recently have had a bit of a hard time interfacing with my camera.

Came back to Urumqi, pretty rushed, and I caught my sleeper bus to Ruoqiang at 7:00pm that night. This sleeper bus actually was not as bad as I thought. The AC was used every once in a while, and loud, horrible movies were only played for 2 hours. We did stop for dinner around 9:00, and as I was worried about having stomach problems, I just ate some stuff out of packages and a mantou (steamed bun).

I arrived in Ruoqiang in the morning, actually very luckily. I was under the impression that I would be arriving at 1 in the afternoon. So, at 8 in the morning, I wake up, look out the window, see we are in a town, and poke my head to see out the front in the hope of catching a street sign. Turns out, the town was Ruoqiang, so I frantically packed up my things, and got off safely at my correct stop. Ruoqiang was not that interesting of a town, so I ended up wandering around, eating lunch, then chilling in my room, reading, washing clothes, or napping.

The next morning, I caught a bus to Qiemo, and, while being a larger town that Ruoqiang, was still not that cool. So here, I bascially engaged in the same activities as in Ruoqiang, which was nice and relaxing, but not too much fun. I left the next morning for Khotan.

I arrived in Khotan at 9:00 at night, after a very long 11 hour bus ride. I did manage to keep myself busy, and the driver decided to use the air conditioning, so all was good. It is a little strange not knowing what anyone is saying. This is really one of the first times in China, where when I'm talked to, all I can do is put up my hands and try my best to communicate my lack of understanding. These bus rides are also difficult, taken in combination with Xinjiang food's fickle temperment with my stomach. The last think that I want on an 11 hour bus ride is to have to go to the bathroom, when there are obviously none around. To fix this problem, I got in the habit of having Pepto-Bismol and Immodium for breakfast, and then something light and packaged for lunch and dinner. Maybe something actually cooked if I was planning on being somewhere for a day.

Khotan was an allright city, better than the previous two. It was here that I met up with Scott (a classmate from IES Bejing) for the day. It was nice to have someone to go around with, even though we mostly just chilled in this one cafe for most the day. One thing interesting is that no internet cafe in Khotan will let foreigners use it -- and I mean NONE. Scott and I walked around to four internet cafes, and all told us that foreigners could not use their computers.

The next step brings both my most miserable moment of the trip, and the closest I have come to slipping into insanity, and I mean real insanity, straight jacket/padded room kind of crazy. It of couse had to do with public transportation (one of the things in China that often riles me to no end). It was a sleeper bus, and I was given a seat which anyone could obviously see was made for a midget. So I sit there for a while (the bus left an hour an a half late), there is also no air conditioning, and it is freaking hot out here. So, things start to look good when the bus starts to leave, but then, before going 50 feet, stops for another 15 mins. This continues with driving for 10 mins, stopping for 15. I have no idea what the hell anyone was doing. The driver was buying raisins, grandma in the back was taking a pee, someone else was picking up something they forgot at home. These are all guesses in my book, but I really had no idea why these random stops were being made. Then, at one of the stops, I decide that I should probably go to the bathroom, so I go out, find a tree, pee, and then as I am walking back, the bus starts up. So, I run to the bus door, which is closed by now, and pound on it, it doesn't open. I yell, the bus starts to pull away. Remember, we are at this point in some tiny village, but bascially in the middle of nowhere, and everything minus my wallet and phone are on the bus (passport included). So, as it pulls away, some lady motions for me to follow, where I yell again, and start to sprint after the bus. As I go, some dog chases me, and as you could believe, I am wondering what I am going to do when I cannot catch the bus and it leaves me behind. Well, thankfully it stopped 300-400 yards up the road, for people to take another bathroom break, but I still have no idea why they didn't wait for me. I also couldn't ask, as none of them can speak Chinese. So, that was at the point where if I felt myself slipping into craziness, and had to lay down (legs crunched up in my midget bed) and do some breathing exercieses. Needless to say, it was not a good night. I probably got 3 hours of sleep. Oh, and we had a police checkpoint, but that was nothing new.
Thankfully, in the back of my mind, I could tell myself that this would be the last Xinjiang bus that I'd be riding on for a while at least.


Now, I am in Kashgar. It is a nice relief. I have meet up with Saskia here, and have run into 3 kids from IES Beijing here as well. Saskia and I were going out for lunch, and we ran into them. It really is strange being so far away from Beijing and running into people you know. We went to breakfast/lunch, and wandered around the old city alleys. I got a bagel, which was really good. One thing Xinjiang knows how to do is their bread. After this, I went back to the hotel and chatted with Andrew, Jeremy and Liz (IES people), and then Saskia and I went out and wandered the city.

Thats bascically all I've done today, but may get a chance to update it tomorrow. I will be heading back to Beijing the day after tomorrow, and I think that I am ready for it. The trip has been good, but just these last several days have been tiring with not too many rewards. It is really cool, though, to be in a place so different from Beijing. Now, the nearly every woman wears a head piece, and many only leave slots for their eyes, some not even that.

I'll try to update once more, most likely once I'm back in Beijing, but maybe tomorrow.

Later,
Corey

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