ChinaTeacher

XIAHE

One of my key reasons for visiting Western China was to see Labrang Monastery in Xiahe (Gansu Province).  People say that being here is the closest you can get to feeling like you’re in Tibet, without actually being there!  Labrang Monastery is one of the six major Tibetan monasteries of the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The others are Ganden, Sera and Drepung and Tashilhunpo monsteries in Tibet, and Ta’er (Kumbum) Monastery in Qinhai Province.

Outside of Lhasa, Xiahe is considered the leading Tibetan monastery town; many Tibetans come here on pilgrimage.  The town itself looks like a dusty Wild West frontier town, with nomads wandering the streets in their woolen robes (even in July) and one can easily glimpse their daggers underneath.  The town gets so dusty from the winds and sand that each afternoon I would see women sweeping sand from the streets – seems like a losing battle to me. 

Anyway, not too far outside of town is Ganjia Grasslands where one can book horse treks, or simply cycle out there and hope you meet some kind Tibetan nomads who invite you to lunch – Kathleen did!

At Labrang, a 3km Pilgrims’ Way, featuring long rows of prayer wheels (1174 I’m told) and Buddhist shrines, circles the monastery. Walking side-by-side with pilgrims and monks, you truly feel as though you’ve entered a different world.  Many pilgrims walk this route every day; it’s an excellent form of exercise, especially for those who do it as a fast pace.  I often found myself having to step aside, to avoid being run over, as others (many much older than me!) whiz by, giving the prayer wheels a forceful push with their right hand.  My right hand was pretty darn tired from turning so many prayer wheels – I don’t know how they can do it every single day! 

It’s quite interesting to watch how the pilgrims navigate their way along the prayer wheels.  Some spin every prayer-wheel once (like I did), but some skip a few, some spin the larger prayer wheels 3 times, some even longer.  I couldn’t figure out whether there is a ‘correct’ way to go about this.  Along the walls of the monastery, occasionally I would see pilgrims touch certain areas of the wall, rest their forehead on them, or even kiss them.  I felt like I was intruding on a very private and emotional moment whenever they did this.

After walking the prayer-wheel circuit around the monastery, people can walk freely inside the monastery walls, but unfortunately the doors to all the prayer halls and buildings remain closed.  Thankfully, there are guided tours into the monastery buildings conducted by the monks themselves.  They are very worthwhile and give you much insight into the monastery setup and history.

We stayed directly across the street at Tara Guesthouse for just 60 RMB (Double Room Shared Bath).  No showers – had to go across the street to the ‘public showers’ – interesting experience to be sure!  Tara has some cute Tibetan-style rooms and was doing some major renovations while we were there.  Next year you can expect more rooms with bathroom/shower facilities and higher prices, for sure!  We found the staff there to be very friendly and a few speak English, plus you can’t beat the location!  Nomad Restaurant is across the street and most of its customers are Tibetan nomads and monks – great for people-watching, both in the restaurant and down on the street.  For western food, we actually found breakfast to be pretty good at Everest Restaurant.  For lunch or dinner we often enjoyed eating at Snowy Mountain Café, run by a young fellow from the U.S.  The food was okay; we went more for the friendly conversation and to peruse English books and magazines onsite!

We were so lucky to have the chance to visit Xiahe.  The town and its monastery have been closed to travelers for the past year or so.  Permission was granted to foreigners just 2 weeks before we arrived!  Unfortunately, if you’re travelling south from Lanzhou, the bus station still won’t allow you to travel to Xiahe.  The good news is that you can purchase a bus ticket to Linxia and after that it’s easy to travel onward to Xiahe.  Travelling north, like we did, presented no problems, other than the usual ID check on the highway – I should be getting used to that by now, I guess.

IN CLOSING

My trip to Xinjiang and Western Sichuan was full of surprises, hardships and pitfalls.  But through it all, we learned a lot about ourselves and met some pretty amazing people.  My advice to all of you is to go and see Western China before they bulldoze it over into modern, over-populated concrete and glass cities.  It’s truly an amazing place!

ZOIGE/RUOERGAI

I didn’t like Zoige/Ruoergai very much because quite frankly, the rough-looking Tibetan nomads looked pretty scary to me.  Most wear traditional ‘chorpas’ (long-sleeved Tibetan coats) and many cover their faces as if they’re afraid of being recognized.  The official reason for this, I was told, is that face covers are to shield them from heavy winds and cold (yeah, right, in July?!).

In Zoige, we stayed in the smallest hotel room ever, with no windows or air ventilation.  No showers onsite, but at least there’s a common toilet down the hall, filthy, but usable.  No worries for us, as we planned to leave the next morning for Langmusi.  I know it was only one night, but I just couldn’t sleep in that room; I felt claustrophobic there.  Eventually, I did find a way to relax and get some sleep, by keeping the door open to the hallway to get some fresh air – I took a chance on our safety for sure, but it was the only way I could get some much needed sleep!

LANGMUSI

Kathy and I are in full agreement that LANGMUSI was our favourite destination in Western Sichuan, by far! First of all, it is situated on the border of Gansu and Sichuan Provinces, and is home to two monasteries: Sezhi Monastery in Sichuan Province, and Geerdeng Monastery in Gansu Province. Langmusi is really special in that to the west you have alpine scenery, and to the east: grasslands as far as the eye can see. Its surrounding countryside is dotted with temples, caves and hills, some of which are used for sky burials (you don’t want to know!). The scenery is really outstanding and excellent for long walks and hikes.

Sana Hotel was our home in Langmusi, boasting the cleanest public bathrooms and showers I have ever seen!  There is a young 14-year-old boy there who magically appears after you leave the bathroom and, voila, it’s clean again – amazing!  Showers are restricted to evenings when hot water is available, as it is dependant on solar heating to generate enough heat from the day.  We found this method of power is common in many villages throughout Western Sichuan.  Solar energy is used for electricity, hot water.  Most restaurants have a huge solar panel out front to heat everyone’s tea.

Speaking of restaurants, there’s a bit of everything on offer here: Sichuan cuisine, Lanzhou noodles, western food, and of course Tibetan food.  At Ali’s Restaurant we enjoyed a wonderful yak and potato dish – I have to admit that yak tastes pretty damn good!  We found Talo Restaurant to be the best choice for breakfast: fresh yogurt and fresh bread!  It was so good in fact, that after a few disappointments elsewhere, we ate breakfast at Talo every day after that.  Nomad’s Hostel has great potential.  Right now it has a great bar and atmosphere.  If they had kitchen facilities and could offer a food menu, I would probably head there on a daily basis.  Let’s hope that happens real soon!

Langmusi is a one main street town, packed with restaurants.  Delicious fresh bread is available everywhere from stands and street carts.  But our favourite spot is on one of the few side streets.  Amdo Crafts is a coffee shop featuring homemade desserts such as banana cake, carrot cake, cookies and muffins.  The owner created a warm and welcoming environment by playing background music, providing books/magazines to read and she also markets handicrafts made by Qinghai’s local people.  It’s such a wonderful place to escape to that we did, each and every day we were in Langmusi!

One of the highlights of Langmusi is that monks are part of daily life here.  You see monks everywhere: on the monastery grounds, around town, in the mountains, you name it.  One evening, we even got to observe monk debates – check out my photos!  Earlier, while the monks were in the prayer hall chanting, two other monks waved my friend and I over, asking us to help them carry something heavy over to the prayer hall.  I couldn’t figure out why they asked us instead of two strong guys, but hey, we’re always open to new opportunities, right?  And it paid off well for us too!  The monks took us into the building through a side door and we found ourselves in an immense prayer hall.  They said that if we agreed not to take any pictures, we could take our time and look around – it was a really amazing place.  One of the monks then guided us around the complex, explaining many of the Tibetan images and statues, as well as outlining some of the Tibetan monks’ daily routines and obligations.  Understanding little, we both realized we have a lot of research to do when we return home.  Later, while watching the monk debates, we talked about our earlier experience.  Once again, we fully appreciated the fact we were travelling independently, rather than with a tour group.  We were the only ones to get a personal tour of the prayer hall! 

I am going to borrow the following quote from Lonely Planet-China’s Northwest:  
To the north and west of Chengdu is where green tea becomes butter tea, Confucianism yields to Buddhism and gumdrop hills leap into jagged snow-capped peaks.  Much of the area in Western Sichuan kisses the sky at between 4000m and 5000m high. 

Today we began the first of many bus trips to Tibetan towns and villages in Western Sichuan.  For me, this is Tibet without the ‘official’ border and all its hassles.  I learned later, firsthand, that many of the roads we travelled are considered to be some of the highest, roughest, most dangerous yet most beautiful roads.  They’re right.  I can’t believe how many times our buses had to stop for goats, horses, yaks, rockslides, small rivers, and yes areas where much of the roadbed had simply ‘slid away’ during a recent heavy rain (I learned later that one of those roads subsequently became impassable after another heavy rainfall hit a few days later).

I discovered that summers in Western Sichuan are blistering hot by day, with severe sunburns resulting due to the high altitude, and then the temperature drops dramatically at night, requiring sweaters and even heavy coats.  This would explain why in just one day I got a horrific sunburn and came down with a nasty cold!

Security is also pretty strict in this region.  On every single bus trip, we had to stop at road checks.  And, at every single road check, our bus was delayed because of me.  I was the sole foreigner and therefore the police simply had to doublecheck my identification every time.  At one highway checkpoint they even took my passport away, driving 10 minutes to their ‘office’ supposedly to scan it.  Needless to say, I was terrified I might not get it returned to me.  But I did get it back, thankfully, because later when we arrived in the town of Maerkang, I found two police officers waiting for me.  Oh yes, they had been contacted and now we had our own personal escort into town.  They wanted me to stay in a ‘foreigner-approved’ hotel, but we explained that a 4-5 Star hotel simply wasn’t within our budget.  We finally did locate a ‘suitable’ hotel that satisfied all parties and the officers left us, relieved to know that we intended to leave first thing the next morning to continue our travels.  They kept telling me this VIP service was simply for my ‘personal safety’, yet they left us alone for the remainder of the evening, when anything could have happened, right?  So strange!

KANGDING was our first stop west of Sichuan (9 hrs. by bus).  We stayed at Sally’s Knapsack Hotel and discovered it was ideally located right next to a Tibetan Monastery – how lucky for us!  We planned to simply stay just one night and continue on to Litang, but surprise surprise, the people at the bus station would not sell me a bus ticket.  “Litang is not open to foreigners”, I was told.  Now I probably could have found another way to get there (probably pricier too), but since this was early in our trip, and given how things have gone so far, I elected to give Litang a ‘pass’ and instead continue on to our next destination, Danba.  But we were told no tickets were available for the next morning’s bus.  Usually there is just one bus per day, but we were advised to come back in the morning and maybe, just maybe they will schedule another bus to Danba.  This turned out to be a good advice because we got tickets on a 2:30pm bus to Danba – yahoo!  Unfortunately, we were on the bus trip from hell!  6 hours felt more like 10 hours – we ran into every single problem I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  And although I took my motion-sickness medicine, I still felt like crap when we arrived - not a good way to start our visit to this charming area.

DANBA

The area around Danba is considered to be one of the jewels of Western Sichuan.  The town itself is nothing special, set in a valley surrounded by mountains.  But it is the numerous Tibetan and Qiang villages perched on the hillsides that are really worth seeing!  What sets this area apart are the striking Qiang Watchtowers, the homes’ architecture style and the exquisite scenery.  It’s absolutely gorgeous!  Many of the watchtowers were originally erected as checkpoints, protecting villages during war; fires lit on the towers’ rooftops would warn surrounding villages of impending attacks.  Nowadays these watchtowers are primarily used for storage.  Both Tibetan and Qiang homes are 3-storeys; the lower floor is for livestock, the middle for living quarters and the top floor is for storing grain and drying crops. 

During our time in Danba we got to visit three villages, Zhonglu, Jiaju and Suopo.  My personal favourite was Zhonglu because it is a little more unspoilt than popular Jiaju.  The scenery at all three villages is quite spectacular and we found everyone very friendly and welcoming to us. In Suopo I met three beautiful young girls who invited me into their home.  They all come from the same family and have been, or are, attending university!  Living off the land has definitely provided the people here with a good life, it seems, although I’m sure they must work very hard for it.  A wide variety of fruit trees seems to grow everywhere, and homeowners grow their own food and raise livestock.  Most people seem to have even found the time and effort to grow their own flowers to further beautify their home environments.  And unlike most Chinese kitchens I have seen, Tibetan and Qiang kitchens are absolutely spotless!  Check out my photos!

In Danba we had a really nice room (with private bathroom) at the Danba Friends of Nature Youth Hotel (Tel: 0836-3522006).  I highly recommend it.  We also met a nice young guy from Chengdu who dragged us along one night to one of Danba’s local dance/singing clubs. Rather than present flowers when someone is singing, apparently it is Tibetan custom to drape a white silk scarf around the singer’s neck.  I think this is a whole lot nicer than thrusting bouquets of flowers into a singer’s arms to the point where she/he has trouble holding onto their mic!  Sadly, our new friend’s trip back to Chengdu took almost 36 hours because the road washed away during a recent rainfall and his bus was forced to take a very long and arduous detour!  Expect the unexpected, they say!

I love Chengdu, having visited several years ago.  So it was my pleasure to show Kathleen around.  Although my favourite downtown hostel, Holly’s Hostel, wasn’t available the first nite, I made sure to arrive early the next day to secure us a room for the remainder of our stay.   I love this place because it is located in the ‘Tibetan’ quarter of Chengdu and close to many interesting sights.

Holly’s restaurant serves excellent western food and as a result, I kicked off each morning with a perfectly toasted bacon/egg sandwich.  Kathy developed a taste for toasted fried egg sandwiches and said she couldn’t wait to make them at home - success!

Now, Sichuan food in Chengdu is the exact opposite of Xinjiang food, ie SPICY!!! I don’t normally like spicy food but I have to say that I developed a taste for Sichuan Noodles – yes, they’re damn spicy, but man they taste good, even while they’re burning up your mouth!  I also enjoyed Mango Ice: Tons of chopped up mangoes served atop crushed ice – fantastically good!

We did all the requisite ‘touristy’ things in Chengdu, visited the Pandas where we can into Matthew (from our visit to Kashgar), enjoyed tea at Renmin Park’s famous outdoor teahouse, went to see Sichuan Opera which featured ‘shadow puppets’, facemask-changing, and opera of course!  Another highlight of the show was the way in which our waitresses served tea – from 3 feet away with long-spouted teapots, in the dark!  Amazing!

As with most hostels, we met lots of great people:  We made good friends with Anda from Ireland, some girls from Spain, a young guy from Guangzhou… and best of all we met a young professor from Vancouver!  Turns out that he was staying at Holly’s for an extended period to do some research on Tibetan literature.  This man is passionate about his work, which I thoroughly admire.  He gave us tons of advice about the Tibetan villages we planned to see and even cautioned us about what to do if we experienced any ‘high altitude’ problems due to the fact that many places were located 3,000-4,500 metres above sea level.  Pills help, he said; he even gave us a supply of our own.  I am deeply thankful, although I only used them once (when I was having trouble breathing one day).

I showed Kath some of my favourite places in Chengdu: The “Bookworm”, a fantastic place which labels itself a Library, Bookshop, Bar, Restaurant and Local Community Centre.  They also have locations in Beijing and Suzhou and, hopefully soon: Hangzhou!  She was impressed!  Dinner at Peter’s Tex-Mex introduced my good friend to some Texan and Mexican foods: a Burger and Burritos!  I think she was more impressed with the Burrito than the burger, frankly, but I thoroughly enjoyed them both!  The highlight of the meal came when we learned that desserts are 1/2 price after 8pm; we had just finished our entrees by 8pm – how lucky were we?!?!  A huge hunk of dark chocolate cake certainly made my day!  I haven’t had cake like that in over 5 years – fantastic!

We had a wonderful visit to Wenshou Temple and its environs, and then came across the most wonderful sidewalk teahouse, purely by accident.  Tea cost just 10 RMB, but with that tea came the most comfortable wicker chairs, large enough to fall asleep in, and looking around us we could see that many of the local people did just that.  What a relaxing way to spend our final afternoon in Chengdu!

Back in Kashgar again, we took the opportunity the next day to visit Abakh Hoja Tomb (along with Juin and Kathleen). At first glance it seems to resemble a miniature Taj Mahal. It is also called the “Fragrant Concubine’s Tomb”. Located on the outskirts of Kashgar, it was wonderful to wander around its extensive grounds in such a peaceful setting. But then again, given its remote location, it was impossible to find a taxi back into town when we were done. Lucky for us, we were able to catch a ride on one of the local buses at the very beginning of its route! Kathleen used this opportunity to approach every local person on board, asking to take their photo. She looked so eager that no one had the heart to say “no” to her. Needless to say, she’s going to come out of this trip with some pretty amazing pictures!

Our bus passed by Kashgar’s famous Market, so we decided to hop off and check it out. Although it wasn’t Sunday, apparently Kashgar’s “Sunday Market” is open 7 days a week, becoming much larger on Sundays. The market wasn’t too busy this day which worked to our advantage: the locals were happy to take time and chat with us; some could speak a little English or some Chinese (or variation of it). I would have to say that Kashgar’s market is similar to most Chinese markets, but it includes extensive quantities of beautiful carpets!

When we started this trip, I was hoping to find that authentic Xinjiang food was much better than that found in my city of Hangzhou. Some restaurants in Kashgar have already proven that, serving up dishes that were simply “so so”. I’m talking lots of mutton, bread, and potatoes – bland, bland, bland. Thankfully, we finally found a great outdoor diner right across the street from our hotel serving up juicy kebabs, tasty noodles with vegetables, and naan flatbread, all for just 13 RMB! (Around $2). Yummy!

On Sunday, many of us planned to visit the ‘big’ Sunday Market, but were disappointed to hear that it, as well as the Animal Market, had been closed down by police, fearing a repeat of violence similar to the riots that took place in Urumqi one week earlier.   (I found out later that they didn’t actually ‘close’ them; they simply asked people from the local villages not to come into town). 

So instead, I spent most of the day at John’s Café, updating my travel notes, and chatting with a few new friends. Kathy went for a bike ride, so I finally headed out into the streets to see what shops might be open. The Id Kah Mosque was still closed (it had been closed since Monday after the Urumqi riots, fearing it would be a target here in Kashgar). Even though I was able to see it clearly from across the street, I was not permitted to take even one photo! I actually never did get a chance to do any shopping (some shops were thankfully open), because a huge sand storm blew in, forcing me back to John’s Café at my hotel!

The police presence in Kashgar seemed to be getting heavier, by the day. This morning I saw a huge convoy of soldiers streaming through town. I also learned that there were some disturbances on Friday night which resulted in several deaths.  I thought: Oh my god, it’s happening again!

What helped me to ultimately make the decision to leave the Province of Xinjiang altogether, was the news that on Sunday, drivers bringing back their tourists from Karakuli Lake were prevented from entering Kashgar city (and they LIVE there!). While tourists were permitted to enter the city, the drivers were not! Our next two destinations were supposed to be Kuqa and Turpan; I had heard a rumour that some of the fighters from Urumqi had fled to these towns. The riots in Urumqi were between Hui and Han Chinese. My friend is Han Chinese. She and I have been lucky twice; I wasn’t going to chance it a third time!

We will be sad to leave Kashgar. Instead, we’re off to Chengdu in Sichuan Province to sample their wonderful teahouses, enjoy some Sichuan Opera, see the Pandas and travel to some fantastic Tibetan Villages to experience their culture! My budget is in the ‘toilet’ now because of all these unplanned flights, but our safety comes first! And we’re going to have a great holiday adventure, no matter what!

The next day was our big overnight adventure to KARAKULI LAKE, a highland lake at 3600 metres, sitting below the majestic Pamir mountains between Kashgar and the border town of Tashkurgan (the border town between China and Pakistan). This place was definitely one of the major highlights during our 30-day trip.   

The drive up to Karakuli Lake was absolutely amazing.  Poor Ali, our driver.  We made him stop the car too many times so we could jump out to take photos.  Ali is a Xinjiang Uigher who picked up his Chinese through conversations with his Chinese friends, rather than through books.  We loved the way he spoke Chinese and Kathleen became quite adept at imitating his accent.  Three of us made the trip: Kathleen and I, and Juin, a young Chinese guy from Shanghai we met at John’s Café, of course! 

Around the lake itself, small pockets of Khirghiz people living in yurts provide tourists with an interesting night’s stay in Karakuli Lake.  Facilities are extremely ‘basic’, which means no heat at night (and due to the high altitude, it’s damn cold, even in July!), and no bathrooms, preferring instead a ‘natural’ environment. 

The scenery here is absolutely stunning!  There is no pollution, so colours are much more vivid: the sky a bright blue, blazing against the snow-covered Pamir mountains overlooking the lake.  And it’s so quiet there; the sound of the quiet practically ‘roars’ in your ears! Because we had planned an overnight stay at the lake, we were able to spend the entire afternoon and evening relaxing, soaking in the incredible scenery and observing how the local people spend their time.  It’s a very simple life, centered around preparing food and cooking/cleaning it, washing clothes and carpets, and caring for the animals.  The women never seem to take a moment away from their work, busy from the moment they wake up, to the moment they go to bed.  Everyone’s skin is dry and chapped; one can easily see that the environment is very harsh.  I truly couldn’t believe how cold the night was, considering it was July, the middle of summer!  Thankfully, we were given many heavy blankets in our Yurt Tent to keep the cold out. 

Kathleen had a blast.  For the very first time she got to ride a horse, and then the next morning - a camel.  It was a fantastic experience for her!  We got to try Milk Tea that was so damn salty I thought I would gag!  But it does help fight high altitude symptoms.  Instead of eating Yak for dinner, we actually had a vegetarian meal of vegetables and rice, and bread – really very good too!  The high altitude didn’t seem to bother Kathleen a bit, but I did have a little trouble breathing whenever I exerted myself.  I had to practice relaxing my breathing in order to have some control.

Well, it turned out that security precautions do exist, even up here in the mountains.  Late in the afternoon, an officer came to our camp, asking us to please come to the PSB Office, a mile away.  There, we were required to show identification and to register.  Strangely enough, they kept Kathleen and Juin’s permission papers that they had obtained to travel to Karakuli Lake, saying we could pick them up the next morning.  (Yes, the Chinese have to obtain formal permission papers before travelling to Karakuli Lake, but foreigners are okay with their passports, again – go figure)!  Luckily we had no trouble picking up their papers the next morning.  Our drive back to Kashgar was quite relaxing with the exception of several roadblocks before entering the city.  Soldiers and police scrutinized everyone’s ID cards, even the drivers - more to come about that!

 In closing, Karakuli Lake is one of the most beautiful, unspoilt places I have ever seen.  Check out my photos and you’ll agree. 

Our plane from Urumqi to Kashgar was filled to barely 1/3 capacity, so Kathleen grabbed the opportunity to wander around, taking photos of the spectacular scenery through the windows along both sides of the airplane. We had clear visibility throughout most of the flight which was absolutely fantastic!

After arriving in Kashgar, as the only passengers on the airport bus, our driver elected to drop us off directly in front of our home for the next few days, the Seman Hotel.  After our experience in Urumqi, we felt like we had arrived in Paradise!  The Seman Hotel, formerly a Soviet Consulate, features such exquisitely detailed architecture, it absolutely blew me away!  Soft beds, and a hot shower (24 hrs hot water) added to our bliss!  Best of all was John’s Café, where we plowed through many meals and met some fantastic travel mates from all around the world! 

Our very first day in the café, we met Jane, a British woman, travelling alone through Western China, with no knowledge of Chinese, truly a brave woman!  Then we met Stephanie (California), and Mathew (Ireland).  After some great conversation, the group of us decided to head out and explore Kashgar’s “Old City”, a fantastic experience!  We wandered through the old streets seeing firsthand the local Uigher people making bagels, naan flatbreads, selling melons, repairing shoes, shaving heads, etc. 

On their handicraft street we spent time in a music shop where we learned that Jane has some musical talent.  The shopkeeper introduced her to a local Uigher string instrument and then demonstrated a variety of instruments for us by playing some songs on each one.  Turns out that he makes all the musical instruments in that shop, plus he can play them all – amazing!  Copper cookware is another specialty but we were surprised to see that even very young boys around 9-10 years of age are involved in creating the intricate copper designs. 

Kashgar’s knife shops turned out to be a big surprise to me.  I mean, I have no interest in knives, or so I thought!  But who would have imagined there could be so many different styles and designs of beautiful knives!  I really don’t need one, but eventually decided to purchase one for my male colleague, one that he can actually use in preparing foods – he loves to cook!  He has kindly let me store all my things in his apartment this summer so it’s the least I can do.  NOTE:  I got through two airports with this knife in my checked baggage, but at Lanzhou Airport, they confiscated my knife.  People: please understand that if you purchase a knife in Kashgar, you will run the chance of not being able to bring it back home!  I was terribly upset to lose that knife, believe me!

During the afternoon, many children kept running up to us, begging us to photograph them so they can see the results in our cameras’ display windows.  I kept looking around, expecting to be pulled aside and told we had to cough up some money for such pictures, but no one seemed to notice, or even care.  Bonus for us!  Mathew decided that his ultimate souvenir would be a shave at one of the local barbershops, a steal for just 2 RMB!  He came out, minus his beard, a large white space on his face surrounded by his sunburned neck and forehead – quite a sight! 

Kashgar’s city streets are quite dry and dusty, so soon parched, Mathew suggested we follow him to his hostel which was located nearby, for some liquid refreshment.  Entering the hostel, we found ourselves in a courtyard centered around a huge pool table!  The temperature was dramatically cooler in the hostel, much more comfortable indeed.  After a game, a few beers and some naan flatbread, we felt ready to head home to our soft beds at the Seman Hotel.  A truly great first day in Kashgar!  Urumqi is already feeling like a distant memory – we feel so safe here!  Stay tuned!

I just came back from an amazing yet emotionally grueling trip to Xinjiang and Sichuan Provinces in China.  My friend Kathleen and I returned earlier than planned (30 days vs 40 days) because of itinerary changes and because, basically we’re really tired, both physically and emotionally.  It was quite a trip, full of pitfalls and scary experiences, but we made it through, alive!  So, first of all, here’s a detailed recap of exactly what transpired when we arrived at our first stop, Urumqi. 

In Urumqi, we arrived one night after a massive riot ‘allegedly’ started by the Xinjiang Uighers killed over 140 and injured over a thousand.  Our taxi driver had to pass through two checkpoints to get us to our guesthouse, which was located right where the fighting took place.  2 days later, the Han Chinese ‘allegedly’ started their own riot in retaliation, and we found ourselves right in the middle of it!  It was the scariest experience I have ever had!

We were in the middle of buying tickets to a wonderful place in the mountains called Tianchi Lake when suddenly, shopkeepers all around us started packing up their booths, yelling that we should get back to our hotel, quickly!  We were just a few blocks away and decided it would be faster to walk, but within moments we could see that everything on the street: shops, banks, hotels, was closing, the sidewalks filling with shopkeepers, employees and neighbours, armed with wooden bats, steel rods, pipes, pieces of wood, anything to fight with.  We started running - our guesthouse was still a block away, but we found ourselves in the middle of two large groups of people, all armed.  Most people just seemed to be waiting, to defend their homes/shops if it came to that; but it was hard to tell who was on whose side.  A few people were yelling and really seemed eager to fight, to taste some ‘blood’.

The next thing I knew, we were pushed with others into a nearby 5-Star Hotel where the manager said we must stay, but cautioned us that they couldn’t be held responsible for our safety since we weren’t actually registered there (go figure!).  After hiding in an upstairs banquet room for a while, we decided to take our chances and make a run for our guesthouse.  In our minds, 5-Star Hotel would be a definite target, while our tiny, cheap Chinese guesthouse would probably be missed in a conflict.  The last memory I have of that terrible afternoon was us running down our back alley, past more employees and neighbours, armed to the hilt, and racing up the stairs to our small room to hide.

Hiding was the worst thing, I felt.  We had no TV and our Internet was blocked.  Text Messaging was cut off, International Calls were cut off, and we couldn’t see anything from our windows.  No communication whatsoever.  It was the ‘not knowing’ that drove me crazy.  By late Tuesday night I had gone through endless possible scenarios.  I decided that early the next morning, 6am, we were going to head out into the street and try to make our way to the highway, hoping to get a lift to the airport, and out of there!  I didn’t care if I died trying; I decided that I would rather die taking action than hiding out in a room, doing nothing.

Later that night, the woman in charge of our guesthouse returned.  She told us that a lot of people had been killed.  In fact, her husband had seen several of his fellow employees beaten to death before escaping himself.  She heard our plans and pleaded with us to stay, to  hide in our rooms for just a few more days – things will surely calm down by then, she said.  Needless to say, I was even more determined to leave early the next morning.  I knew this problem was not going to go away in just a few days, and I was not going to stick around until it did.

At 6am, under cover of darkness, we made our way out into the deserted main street, past several roadblocks manned with police and armed soldiers telling us to return to our guesthouse.  Finally, one officer reluctantly pointed us in the direction of the highway, stating it would probably be reopened at 8am and then we might get a lift with someone.  We were alone on the highway for about an hour; all we saw were convoys of tanks and busloads of soldiers making their way into the downtown area.  But quickly, our luck turned. 

A kind businessman, discovering that his internet had been shut down (guess by who?!!) decided to return home since he couldn’t get any work done.  He picked us up and drove us directly to the airport – we almost didn’t get there, however, as we had to pass through yet another checkpoint where they demanded to see our airplane tickets.  Luckily I had our original tickets showing Urumqi-Kashgar for a departure two days later.  We lied and told them we had changed the departure date by telephone with the airline – it worked!  Those tickets got us through the checkpoint, but I still had to pay full-fare for two new tickets when we arrived at the airport (my original tickets were non-refundable).  But thank goodness I had those electronic tickets printed out! 

It was pretty quiet at the airport; at first I feared it was closed.  But things went pretty smoothly once we purchased our tickets and got through security to our gate.  The airport’s tarmac was teeming with soldiers sitting in large groups, waiting for buses to transport them downtown.  It was pretty creepy.  I’d have loved to take some pictures, but knew it was a pretty bad idea.  I didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until our plane left the ground at 8:30am.  Let’s hope things will be better in KASHGAR!!

Okay, I’ll be honest; a few more issues arose during our trip that could have threatened our safety (but didn’t).  Stay tuned, and I’ll tell you more about them.

I “LOST IT” in a sports shop earlier today.  That’s right, it’s not all fun and games when you live in a foreign country.  You try not to let the little things get to you, but sometimes….!

I was waiting in line to buy something, noting how many of the local shoppers were cutting in front of one another; in fact, one couple even had the audacity to approach the Customer Service desk and insist they be checked out there!  As for me, my line was taking forever so I switched to another one.  By the time I got to the counter, the girl said “sorry, this is for Credit Cards only”.

I started to explain about all the lines and the couple at the Customer Service desk, but realized: she didn’t have enough English to understand, and I certainly didn’t have enough Chinese to explain it all.  So I moved away, planning to join yet another line.  But then… my anger erupted – I threw my purchases on a display, yelled my head off and stomped out of the store, shaking my head as I went.  I felt so much rage – in fact it took several minutes for me to calm down again.

Generally, I walk around with a friendly look on my face, one that encourages people to say hello.  But after that incident, when a guy said “hello” to me in a supermarket a little later on, I just glared at him.

I realized I was no longer in the mood for shopping.  In fact, I started feeling quite emotional, and started to cry.  Sometimes I find it so damn difficult getting myself understood.  At times like this I just want to pack it all in and head back to Canada!

It was then that I decided, perhaps I should just head home until I was in a better frame of mind.  It’s not easy for a foreigner to get away with making such a scene – we are so easily recognized.  Hmm, I wonder if that store will ever let me shop there again? 

This kind of situation has occurred before, but usually I manage to avoid making scenes.  I do, however, go through intense feelings of frustration and anger.  They usually pass, but it takes time.  Whenever this kind of thing happens, I usually hide in my apartment until I feel better.  As a result, my students all think I am happy all the time!  Little do they know!!!

I think this kind of thing must happen to most people who live in a foreign country.  I think things slowly build up to the boiling point and finally, one small thing can just set you off. 

I just got back from a wonderful holiday to Yangshuo, a picturesque ‘backpacker haven’.  It is located a 2-hour flight west of Shanghai in Guanxi Province, 1 hr. from Guilin City.  This was my third trip to Yangshuo, so obviously I really like the place.  I first fell in love with Yangshou when I visited China as a tourist in 2003 (during SARS). 

In fact, I used this trip to get in touch with a retired Canadian couple who had given me advice back in 2004 when I was getting ready to move to China to teach.  Turns out, they are still in Yangshuo!  So, one sunny afternoon I set out to find the school where they are employed.  Luck was definitely on my side: I ran into the woman as she was walking down the street to her home – one minute later and I would have missed her entirely!  She invited me home with her, where we spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and reminiscing about things we miss from Canada, and sharing common complaints about China!

Through the course of my week there, we had lunch one day and met up for dinner 2-3 different times with some of their teacher friends, including another couple from Canada.  By the time I left Yangshuo, I truly felt I was leaving some good friends behind.  But that’s what Yangshuo is all about.  This town is so small that you keep running into the same people.  So, you might as well say hello and get to know them!

There really is something for everyone in Yangshuo.  When I was first teaching in China, I remember persuading a young colleague of mine (24 year-old male) to go to Yangshuo with me for our one-week October vacation.  Obviously he doubted that taking a vacation with someone twice his age would be much fun.  However, we wound up spending 6 wonderful days in Yangshuo and even tried to squeeze in a little extra time, by booking the overnight bus on our very last day, rather than wasting the day travelling.  Our hope was that it would get us back to school just in time for classes the next day (it didn’t – we got held up assisting another broken down bus).  But, hey, it was still worth it!

My colleague and I met up most evenings for dinner, but apart from that, we went our separate ways during the day.  Early on, he made friends with a group of young people and spent most of the week with them, hiking, biking, rockclimbing, rafting and so on.  As for me, I spent the week socializing with people I met on the street (a lot of foreign teachers were around at that time), shopping, reading used English books in the cafes, biking in the countryside and so on.

This time around in Yangshuo, I decided to learn the fine art of Chinese ink painting, and master the game of Mahjong (hey, it’s not so difficult after all!).  I also enjoyed a few massages, and visited a small town in the countryside called Xingping.  The scene shown on China’s 20 RMB note is from there (see photo).

Most people are really friendly in Yangshuo, whether they are tourists or locals.  One evening I spotted a young fellow taking a photo of who, I thought, was his girlfriend.  As is my usual practice, I stopped and asked if I could help by taking a photo of them together.  Turns out, they were both solo travelers who had met at their hostel.  They had then decided to spend the day together.  The fellow, a sales manager from Guangzhou, said they were on their way for dinner, asking if I would join them.  The three of us had a wonderful time exploring the town for a suitable eatery, and finally settling on a barbecue restaurant set up in what is used, by day, as the town’s food market – they cleaned it up quite well for evening’s use, I must say!  We had great fun on West Street after dinner, shopping for a winter jacket for him and driving the salesgirls absolutely crazy!

I also made friends with Lisa, a girl operating the tourist information booth next to my hotel – this is also where I booked my tickets to Impression Sanjie Liu.  It is a show produced and directed by renowned film director, Zhang Yimou (of Beijing’s Olympics Opening Ceremonies, the Movies “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers”).  Lisa is a real sweetheart and would often call out to me when I passed by her booth.  Needless to say, I was always ready to sit and chat.  One evening, she was outside when I arrived; she asked me where I was going.  “Just for a walk”, I said.  She asked if she could join me since her shift was up.  We had a nice long walk and it was clear that she wasn’t using this as an opportunity to try to sell me something, simply a walk and conversation between two new friends.  That’s what makes Yangshuo so different from other places.  The pace of life is slower here and people seem content to simply enjoy life and make friends, rather than check tourists’ pockets.

I remember when I walked down West Street the first afternoon I got here, shoe shine guys approached me, one after the other.  I’m sure there were at least 8.  I always said ‘no’, but there was one guy who seemed really polite and not pushy at all.  I made a mental note that when I was ready, that was the guy I would pay to shine my shoes.  He approached me every single day.  One day, his eyes lit up when I said “Ming tien” – tomorrow.  So I made sure to say ‘yes’ when he approached me the next morning.  I had him do my shoes a couple of times that week.  On my last day, I gave him a nice tip and got him to understand that I was leaving.  I had really enjoyed meeting him each day.  A nice friendly fellow, making a simple living, and leaving a good impression behind.

Anyway, back to Impression Sanjie Liu – what a show!  Zhang does on water what he has done on film — creates intense emotion through colour, movement and sound.  The performance, with the natural mountains and water as the setting, has become a must for visitors to Yangshuo.  It is performed by a huge cast (over 600) of local villagers and fishermen, particularly local minority groups such as Zhuang and Yao.  However, the stand out performer is definitely the background scenery. The lighting of the karst mountain peaks is truly amazing and is a highlight.  Impression is like nothing else I have seen before. This show is actually played out on the waters of the Li River. 

One performance featured Hundreds of fishermen in straw cone hats piloting narrow bamboo boats into long bobbing lines, and then lifting 100-metre-long strands of red silk, which they undulate until the audience applauds this larger-than-life metaphor for Chinese women washing clothes in a river (see photos). At the same time, scores of spotlights crisscross the sky until it also ripples like a river.  Check out some of my photos.  This show is definitely worth seeing, so be sure to check it out when you’re in Yangshuo!

Yangshuo has a large number of English schools where many young Chinese business professionals spend months at a time enrolled in intensive English classes.  I emailed a young girl I had first met in 2004, to see if she and/or the school was still around.  Turns out, she’s now in Shenzhen, but the school in Yangshuo is alive and well.  Apparently it has also grown considerably.  She contacted a young guy there and told him to expect a call from me.  Long story short, I wound up leading a couple of English Corners (informal conversation classes) while I was in Yangshuo.  I made good friends with a number of the students there, which was great.  It meant I had a list of lunch and dinner dates whenever I wanted them too! 

I did come back with one terrible souvenir of Yangshuo – I caught a terrible cold!  You know, I may come from Canada, but I simply cannot get used to the cold weather in China!  Perhaps it’s the fact that most Chinese keep the doors and windows of their shops OPEN all day, so they freeze!  In Yangshou this was quite common, albeit most restaurants kept an open fire going in the middle of the room where the staff would huddle for warmth.  But trust me, it’s not enough.  I spent one afternoon learning Mahjong and by the time I left, I was frozen through and through.  I headed back to my hotel, had a hot shower, turned on the heating full blast, had the hotel get me an extra duvet, turned on my electric blanket to high, and guzzled gallons of ginger tea – it didn’t work!  I still came down with the worst cold I can ever remember having.   And, worse still it’s the third cold I’ve had this winter!  Each cold has lasted at least 3 weeks!  You’d think I’d be having an easier time of it, now that I’ve lived in China for 4 1/2 years now!

HOTELS – so, for those who wish to know, I stayed at two different hotels: 7^th Heaven Café & Hostel, and Lisa’s Mountain View Lodge.  There are tons of hotels Yangshuo so you don’t need to prebook before you arrive.  Take your time before deciding, you can afford to be choosy.

RESTAURANTS – Again, there are tons of restaurants in Yangshuo.  There’s lot of Chinese food around, but Yangshuo is becoming famous because of all the restaurants claiming to make Western Food.  But, it’s hit and miss at some joints.  Café China on West Street has my vote for the best pizza (over Karst and Red Star).  I don’t care what others say.  And my vote for the best American breakfast goes to Drifters on West Street.  You could stay in Yangshuo for weeks and still not hit all the restaurants and bars.

The last morning, I hired a taxi to take me directly to Guilin Airport rather than take 2 local buses and a taxi, as I had done upon my arrival.  In fact, I even paid extra to take the newly opened expressway which reduces travel time from 2 hrs. down to under 1 hr.  But that wasn’t the main reason I decided on the expressway - I heard that it passes through some nice areas.  I have to tell you: it was the most spectacular mountain scenery I have ever seen – highly recommended!