Blogs from Xinjiang, China, Asia - page 33

10:00am, In my yurt (a yurt is a big tent) I woke up with a fever. I went to the W.C twice this morning and i had to go again as soon as i woke up. I felt really bad. Despite this, i went horseriding again for an hour. Julie and Bethany have gone back to Kashgar. After horsey-time, i went back to my yurt and lay there for an hour. I couldn't sleep, my stomach had cramps. I had some bread for breakfast, packed my bags and went to the road to hitch-hike to either kashgar, or taxkorgan. Either way, they have toilets in their rooms their so it wouldn't be as bad as here where i have to walk half a kilometer to use the toilet which is not even a toilet but a ... read more

The train ride took 24 hours from Urumqi to Kashgar. On the way, i met a chinese family that shared the same room as me. They were extremely curious of me and extremely friendly. We ate together and laughed together. Wheni reached Kashgar, i was awed at the difference between this city, compared to the rest of china's big cities. 5:00pm, Kashgar Train Station As soon as i arrived, i noticed that the majority race here was not chinese. It was Uighur. But i also noticed some Kazakhz, Uzbeks and Pakistani. This whole town is filled with ethnic minorities, hui muslims and few han chinese. It was nice just walking around. There were less spitting, croaking and shouting! I wondered and wondered around town and found myself standing in front of the Id Kah Mosque which ... read more

8:00am, Kanasi After breakfast, I went walking alone around the lake again and around the grasslands. It was amazing to see how these people live a nomadic life. There were horses, goats, cows, sheeps and even camels! After a long and tiring walk, i headed back to the cabin.. 12:00pm, The Cabin We were getting ready to leave. I packed my bags and got on the bus back to Buer'Jin. In the bus, they got everyone to sing a song. I sang 'warisan wanita terakhir', the belgium couple sang some russian song and the they taught us how to sing 'wo ai ni'. It was the funniest thing i ever seen. I realized how supportive the chinese people are with each other. Basically, the whole ride back was filled with singing and laughing. I, on the ... read more

7:00am, Departure from Buer'Jin We got on our tour bus and headed towards Kanasi Forest Reserve. On the way there, the view was magnificent. Kanasi is 3000miles above sea level so the trip there was filled with grasslands and mountains. Its located in the most northern tip of China and near the border of Russia and Kazakhstan. It took us 6 hours to get here. On the way there, the tour bus was playing Michael Learns To Rock, Titanic, Emily's 'Big Big World' and some Xinjiang music back to back. We passed more grasslands, a beautiful green river and many many kazakh yurts (tents). The Kazakhs are nomads and move here during summer to tend their cattle. 1:00pm, Kanasi Forest Reserve When we got up there, it was raining really heavily. They say that in Kanasi, ... read more

10:00am Urumqi Train Station (Wulumuqi Huoche Jahn) I arrived at urumqi train station and headed straight towards the travel agency. According to the lonely planet, its much cheaper to take an agency to Kanas Reserve Park rather than going yourself since there are no buses to the park and a cab would cost about 250 one way. So, i went to 5 different travel agency and paid 400 yuan to one of em. Its dirt cheap. Accomodation and travel expenses paid for. The only problem with chinese tour agencies is, they tend to get really excited with 'the group' so they probably would really think im an asshole for telling them "guys, thanks for the transportation, but i think i'd like to be on my own right now". The bus was going to leave the next ... read more