Kashgar
At the Chinese border the luggage of everybody on the bus was first searched and tried by soldiers and then screened again a little later. Otherwise, the border crossing was easy and I was glad that I didn’t have to take a taxi from the border, for once. The bus stopped in a village for lunch. Laghman (an Uighur noodle dish) and tea cost about $ 0.75. After lunch some young Uighur man joined our traveling party. With one of them I listened to music on my MP3 player for about 45 minutes. I didn’t ask him how he liked the music, but at least he didn’t complain about Manu Chao. After a good 19 hours in the bus, I arrived in Kashgar.
Although Kashgar is located more than 1000 kilometers west of Beijing, Beijing time is officially in use. As a result, stores open at 10.30 am and check-out time at my hotel was until 2 pm.
In Kashgar, I stayed in a beautiful three star hotel for under $ 10 per night. This was possible because I had asked for a bed and not for a room. During my two nights I had the room to myself. Although in Kashgar, as across the country, there is very good "Chinese" food, I focused on the local Uighur specialties. On the second evening I ate in one of over a dozen of pigeons restaurants located next to each other. The pigeon was very good. But to my discomfort, just before I finished eating, I witnessed water brought in to the restaurant in containers. Due to the lack of a water connection in some of the places I traveled, this was nothing new to me, but it bothered me that they used old chemical containers with Irritant symbol still on it.
The change from Central Asia to China was particularly strong in the streets. In Kashgar, there was wild driving. A myriad of small shops, people and the annoying electric scooters on the streets made that place very different from what I was used to. There are fast food restaurants, coffee shops and shopping centers, as well. The difference between Kashgar and the approximately equal-sized city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan has been tremendous. At that time, I was convinced that I would have a 95 percent chance of getting involved in an electric scooter accident. Unlike their conventional relatives, they are silent.
Kashgar has a historical section in the city center. It is located in the midst of a modern Chinese city, an anachronism. The Uighur and their historic district had a difficult standing with me, while for the tourists who came from the east of China this culture was new and exciting, for me it was another part of Central Asia. I had already met Uighur people in Kyrgyzstan and the historical district could not match the sites in Uzbekistan. The Chinese part of the city on the other hand, was new and exciting for me.
Train Kashgar - Urumqi
When I bought a train ticket the day before I wanted to go to Urumqi, I realized that the Chinese had discovered traveling for themselves. My plan was a bit shaken, rather than get a bed in the sleeping cart; I had to resign myself to a seat.
Before I boarded the train I couldn’t imagine what to bring for a 24 hour train ride. I decided to bring just a little and go to the restaurant cart if I need to. In order to be allowed to use a train in China, one must first get his baggage x-rayed and go through a metal detector. Then one is left in the assigned waiting area. As a Western foreigner it felt partly like being on the wrong side of a cage in the zoo.
When I had found my place I realized that the backrest of the seats is almost in a 90 degree angle to the seating surface and is not adjustable. The train was also so crowded that all free spaces were used for sitting or lying down and vacant seats were taken while still warm. I had the luck that a young primary school teacher, who spoke passable English sat in my compartment. So I was able to talk to her and with her as a translator to the other people around my compartment. I had to answer many questions was, but also integrated nicely.
A German-Malay couple asked me if I would join them to the dining car. I was delighted by the change. Thomas (I hope the name is correct, it took place already more than a week ago) and Anita were on their way from Germany to Malaysia. Their originally scheduled trip was almost identical to the first idea for my trip. It should go by car from Germany to Malaysia. The regulations for China put an end to that plan. Instead, they flew to Moscow and from there on they wanted to go overland to Urumqi and then fly to Bangkok.
Later the other passengers in my compartment made the two of them, to sit with us. Anita could speak a little Mandarin to their delight. Until approximately one clock in the night it was loud in the train, then almost all passengers tried to get some sleep. In that night I managed to have about thirty minutes of sleep. After 22 hours of travel, the train emptied somewhat, so that I could occupy two seats and take a little nap.
An hour late and after a journey time of 25 hours, the train arrived in Urumqi. There, Anita helped me buying a train ticket for my further journey two days later. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a ticket in the sleeping cart for the entire route. But with the help of a map Anita got me a sleeper ticket for three quarters of the way.
Urumqi
Urumqi has nothing in common with its history as a Silk Road city. It is a modern Chinese city, and might as well be 1000 km eastwards into China. The lack of historical sites limited my opportunities for sightseeing. Since I only had one full day to spend there, it didn’t bother me too much. I wanted to visit the museum and a park with a pagoda and a good view over the city. Arriving at the museum, I was told that it is closed on Mondays. The park revealed a certain tendency of Chinese people to theme park entertainment. Rides, artificial rocks and newly built temple made up good photo opportunities.
The first night in the hostel was very nice. I had a good chat with Magdalena and Benni from Switzerland. The two had completed an internship at a pottery in eastern China and were traveling through the country to collect more impressions. Later another Swiss couple joined us. The second night in the hostel was one of those "there is something wrong here" moments. After I had eaten at a night market, I came back to the hostel. I wanted to drink a beer. When I entered the well-decorated common room, there sat 18 of 20 people in front of their computers. I don’t understand why anyone wants to spend the evening in a situation like this to change his facebook status, and chat with people at home. When outside of the hostel a foreign city can be explored and in this room were probably lots of interesting people. I spoke a little to with a French girl and confirmed my suspicions about interesting people. She is on the way back from Laos to France. However, it will take a couple of years, with various jobs during her journey.
At the Chinese border the luggage of everybody on the bus was first searched and tried by soldiers and then screened again a little later. Otherwise, the border crossing was easy and I was glad that I didn’t have to take a taxi from the border, for once. The bus stopped in a village for lunch. Laghman (an Uighur noodle dish) and tea cost about $ 0.75. After lunch some young Uighur man joined our traveling party. With one of them I listened to music on my MP3 player for about 45 minutes. I didn’t ask him how he liked the music, but at least he didn’t complain about Manu Chao. After a good 19 hours in the bus, I arrived in Kashgar.
Although Kashgar is located more than 1000 kilometers west of Beijing, Beijing time is officially in use. As a result, stores open at 10.30 am and check-out time at my hotel was until 2 pm.
In Kashgar, I stayed in a beautiful three star hotel for under $ 10 per night. This was possible because I had asked for a bed and not for a room. During my two nights I had the room to myself. Although in Kashgar, as across the country, there is very good "Chinese" food, I focused on the local Uighur specialties. On the second evening I ate in one of over a dozen of pigeons restaurants located next to each other. The pigeon was very good. But to my discomfort, just before I finished eating, I witnessed water brought in to the restaurant in containers. Due to the lack of a water connection in some of the places I traveled, this was nothing new to me, but it bothered me that they used old chemical containers with Irritant symbol still on it.
The change from Central Asia to China was particularly strong in the streets. In Kashgar, there was wild driving. A myriad of small shops, people and the annoying electric scooters on the streets made that place very different from what I was used to. There are fast food restaurants, coffee shops and shopping centers, as well. The difference between Kashgar and the approximately equal-sized city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan has been tremendous. At that time, I was convinced that I would have a 95 percent chance of getting involved in an electric scooter accident. Unlike their conventional relatives, they are silent.
Kashgar has a historical section in the city center. It is located in the midst of a modern Chinese city, an anachronism. The Uighur and their historic district had a difficult standing with me, while for the tourists who came from the east of China this culture was new and exciting, for me it was another part of Central Asia. I had already met Uighur people in Kyrgyzstan and the historical district could not match the sites in Uzbekistan. The Chinese part of the city on the other hand, was new and exciting for me.
Train Kashgar - Urumqi
When I bought a train ticket the day before I wanted to go to Urumqi, I realized that the Chinese had discovered traveling for themselves. My plan was a bit shaken, rather than get a bed in the sleeping cart; I had to resign myself to a seat.
Before I boarded the train I couldn’t imagine what to bring for a 24 hour train ride. I decided to bring just a little and go to the restaurant cart if I need to. In order to be allowed to use a train in China, one must first get his baggage x-rayed and go through a metal detector. Then one is left in the assigned waiting area. As a Western foreigner it felt partly like being on the wrong side of a cage in the zoo.
When I had found my place I realized that the backrest of the seats is almost in a 90 degree angle to the seating surface and is not adjustable. The train was also so crowded that all free spaces were used for sitting or lying down and vacant seats were taken while still warm. I had the luck that a young primary school teacher, who spoke passable English sat in my compartment. So I was able to talk to her and with her as a translator to the other people around my compartment. I had to answer many questions was, but also integrated nicely.
A German-Malay couple asked me if I would join them to the dining car. I was delighted by the change. Thomas (I hope the name is correct, it took place already more than a week ago) and Anita were on their way from Germany to Malaysia. Their originally scheduled trip was almost identical to the first idea for my trip. It should go by car from Germany to Malaysia. The regulations for China put an end to that plan. Instead, they flew to Moscow and from there on they wanted to go overland to Urumqi and then fly to Bangkok.
Later the other passengers in my compartment made the two of them, to sit with us. Anita could speak a little Mandarin to their delight. Until approximately one clock in the night it was loud in the train, then almost all passengers tried to get some sleep. In that night I managed to have about thirty minutes of sleep. After 22 hours of travel, the train emptied somewhat, so that I could occupy two seats and take a little nap.
An hour late and after a journey time of 25 hours, the train arrived in Urumqi. There, Anita helped me buying a train ticket for my further journey two days later. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a ticket in the sleeping cart for the entire route. But with the help of a map Anita got me a sleeper ticket for three quarters of the way.
Urumqi
Urumqi has nothing in common with its history as a Silk Road city. It is a modern Chinese city, and might as well be 1000 km eastwards into China. The lack of historical sites limited my opportunities for sightseeing. Since I only had one full day to spend there, it didn’t bother me too much. I wanted to visit the museum and a park with a pagoda and a good view over the city. Arriving at the museum, I was told that it is closed on Mondays. The park revealed a certain tendency of Chinese people to theme park entertainment. Rides, artificial rocks and newly built temple made up good photo opportunities.
The first night in the hostel was very nice. I had a good chat with Magdalena and Benni from Switzerland. The two had completed an internship at a pottery in eastern China and were traveling through the country to collect more impressions. Later another Swiss couple joined us. The second night in the hostel was one of those "there is something wrong here" moments. After I had eaten at a night market, I came back to the hostel. I wanted to drink a beer. When I entered the well-decorated common room, there sat 18 of 20 people in front of their computers. I don’t understand why anyone wants to spend the evening in a situation like this to change his facebook status, and chat with people at home. When outside of the hostel a foreign city can be explored and in this room were probably lots of interesting people. I spoke a little to with a French girl and confirmed my suspicions about interesting people. She is on the way back from Laos to France. However, it will take a couple of years, with various jobs during her journey.
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