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Published: July 12th 2005
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T people: Some are the picturesque rosy-cheeked type you see in national geo; some are wild and long-haired, much like the yaks they tend. Some wear extremely ornate headpieces and scarves and jewellery. Some wear simple frocks and skirts with sashes. Some are dirt poor and scrawny.
Some are plump and well-fed from the yaks and butter products they consume. Some are weathered, old, have leathery faces, but the most shining smiles.
I am in Xining now, a city near the north of Qinghai province. It was to be my last stop before going to my town where i'll catch a bus to T. Yesterday was spent in a haze, ridding my body of some sort of toxin. Today i awoke and didn't know if the 7 on my watch meant evening or morning. But, i feel better!
Now I have a slight problem and must do some serious planning when i go back to my hotel. My problem is that my bank card, which worked just find in Chengdu at the same bank, does not work here at the same bank. Their reason: it doesn't work here.
I changed my emergency funds travellers checks, and have another
$80 in US dollars i could use. But from recent experience i think i'd better figure something else out before going into T. Those emergency funds are basically useless when not in a big city. Whereas everywhere else in Asia US dollars are adored, here they are feared, and people jump away guiltily at the sight.
In between here and before, i passed through a few more towns. One was famous for a monastery which had grown to massive proportions. It had attracted C buddhists in addition to the T flock, and the shacky homes stippled the hillside every way one looked. In 2001, C might have feared this massive growth and, thus, ordered many (1000s? I don't know the exact figure) to be demolished. Naturally i was interested in visiting.
Expecting just a meagre community, i was stupified by what i saw. Though 1000s may have been destroyed, the hillside still was littered with these small cabins of devotees. But actually, i wasn't supposed to know that. The area is closed to foreigners. When prying in my wide-eyed, naive traveller custom, they danced around the reply. However, a Taiwanese man i'd met later translated their half-assed excuse:
it is too unsanitary and unsightly right now to be open to the public. Ah, yes, that would be a first in C.
But rather than give us the boot, they kindly interviewed us, took our passports, and then gave us a guided tour, flirting and rushing to get lunch. So while i only have the shots i snapped before being found (camera cards stuffed into my undies and camera handed off to my T friend, where it disappeared into the folds of her robes), they still show some of the scope of the place.
After that, i learned a lucky japanese tourist i met had strolled for THREE HOURS simply because she passed herself off as C.
From there i headed to a town/city east, which was said to have a life-saving Bank of C. It did not. It had instead one of the longest main streets i've yet come across, as well as a truly long-distance bus station ( a good hour's walk out of town; or not so good, depending on one's frame of mind and the 'help' one received from ornery locals).
Then back west, and north (if you saw a map showing the mountain ranges in between cities ---which i did not--- you would understand the zigzagging approach to travel) to a wealthy town with two lovely monasteries in it, and many surrounding. The houses were unique from others i've seen. I have seen many using adobe/earth building technology, say on fences or parts of the house, but these were entirely sculpted from earth. Flintstones-like, with flat rooves, bold earthy maroons lining and striping and decorating. Their soft brown was a lovely contrast to the very green fields, and the vibrant yellow rapeseed squares.
From that town, i boarded a very full bus. Very full. It was full. Inside and out. The roof had about a metre and a half of luggage and random objects, like nomads' tents and a chimney, and chairs. The inside was crammed with people, produce, grains, mysterious white sacks (yak hair? clothing? small dogs?). We false-started a couple of times, once to pick up a group of people who'd been evicted because their children surpassed the one-metre-rides-free mark (but yes, we picked them up two minutes down the road, bureaucracy stuffed), another for repairs (15 minutes in)... and then just frequent stops along the way to drop off or pick up people. Actually, despite the 15 hours, i didn't mind the many stops. It was truly a bus serving people and i appreciated this. They were interesting, anyway!
The next town was simply a passing-through town, and i did just that, leaving the next evening (but contracting a stomach virus in the meantime?) on a very nice sleeper bus. I lucked out and got a window bed. I lucked out (in the negative) and got a bus full of smokers determined to hot-box the thing. Each time i opened the window for a gasp of fresh air, a low roar erupted from these big strong men who didn't like the cold.
So, in Xining. It is a city said to have developed through trade with China and Persia, and linked with the Silk Route. Apparently it has had its different ruling groups, including Ts and Muslims, the latter of whom seem to have had the most tumultuous history in this area. According to one guidebook, Xining has also been a military area since the 1500s. Now, just walking around the city I've seen a smattering of Ts, quite a number of Muslims and quite a number of Cs. Xining does have a very large mosque, one of the largest in this region.
A few days here will give me time to sort out money problems, as well as to see some very important T sites in the area, before
continuing on my way into T, for a new view of T life in the official Region.
by the way, for more photos,
http://www.GarlicheadVietnam.june2005.photoshare.co.nz
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Great information
Excellent reporting of your traveling. Interesting and useful information on cities, bus travel, money changing problems and Temples. I look forward to the pics when you get to a computer which can process them.