China

Huang Shan (yellow mountain) has the reputation of being the most picturesque mountain in China. The highlights, so we're told, are the sunrise and the sea of clouds that float between cliffs. Our good luck with the weather ran out when we reached Tunxi near the base of Huang Shan, so we made the best of it by going to the old Chinese villages around Tunxi. There are several old villages that have been preserved so they still look the way they did hundreds of years ago. The most popular one is Hongcun, where the movie “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” was filmed. However, we followed our driver's recommendation and went to Chengkan and Tangmo, two other old villages that are not as touristy (we liked Chengkan better). Walking around the empty narrow alleyways void of big tour groups, one really feels transported back in time. The misty rain only added to the melancholy feeling.

Of course the impact of the past 50 years can be seen here and there. The sign over this old woman's head says “Long Live Marxism and Leninism”

In another village, the owner of a building with intricate wood carvings were forced to scrape off the all the faces on the carvings during the Cultural Revolution because they represented old capitalist ideas. The only exception were faces of any servants, farmers, etc.... because they represented the workers.

The sky started clearing up so we headed up to the summit of Huang Shan. I always thought traditional Chinese landscape paintings are abstract expressions, but after Huang Shan I realized that they are actually very realistic and that the mountains in China really do look like that. The first day the heavy rain clouds were so thick we barely saw anything but the weather is so unpredictable that all of a sudden the fog would lift and then the sea of clouds would be before your eyes. The weather continued to improve during our 3 day stay so we got to see the many faces of Huang Shan, and even a decent sunrise:





As much as we dislike rain, Huang Shan is at its best right after it rains in order to get the clouds.

There are no roads for any vehicles with wheels, motorized or not at the summit. Everything that's used (food, bed linen, water, etc.) are all carried up from the bottom of the mountain by the local workers.... a 3+ hour hike uphill!

Our hike was not anywhere near as tough as the workers' since the cable car took us most of the way up, but we did have to carry a pretty heavy load to our hotel. All because we didn't heed the advice of the hotel staff in Tunxi who told us to leave most of our luggage with them. Next time we will definitely remember to bring as little as possible up! Ashok's going down in this picture, but we had an equal (or more) number of steps up... and by the way, I had my share of heavy bags as well:

One last story of a very interesting encounter: On one of our hikes, Ashok saw an old man doing some sketches who looked interesting so we approached him to ask to take his picture. It turns out he's an art professor at an university in JianXi and comes every year at the invitation of one of the hotels to paint for them. After talking for a while, he asked if Ashok would sit for a portrait for him because he doesn't normally get a chance to do portraits of foreigners. How funny is that! Usually it's Ashok that's doing the asking. Of course we had to oblige... and that's how Ashok got his first portrait.

And so ended our tour of China. On to Southeast Asia with Bangkok as our first stop.

After almost a month of brown, dusty, deserty landscape, it's nice to finally see trees and green landscape. Chengdu was a pleasant surprise - cleaner and a lot more modern than the cities we've been seeing (besides Beijing).

Sichuan cuisine is also our favorite of all the different types of Chinese foods, yet another reason we were excited to be there. The food definitely did not disappoint. A stroll around the various food stalls around Wen Shuo Temple proved to be very rewarding for our stomach. The food is spicy, but in a way that one can still taste all the flavors as opposed to just being so hot it obliterates everything else. One of the best is the dumpling in hot chili oil... here's it's more soupy and flavorful than what you get in the US. There's not peanut butter in the sauce either... not sure why restaurants in NY think it's necessary to add it. Unfortunately Ashok was still recovering from Jiayuguan so we had to limit what we ate.

The Giant Pandas are from Sichuan so of course we paid a visit to the Panda Research Center. We got there early to see them eat breakfast. Apparently after that they pretty much just go back to sleep. Not a bad life. I know they can get mean but they just look so innocent & cuddly!

The cutest things, though, were the baby Pandas. All the newborns are put into the nursery since they're still developing their senses and cannot do much, and when the workers plop them down into the playpen they just lay there and wiggle around looking just like the soft, plush stuffed animals you can buy (sorry photos were not allowed inside).

The other thing to do is to have tea in a tea house and people watch. It was drizzling the day we went to the park so there weren't too may people to watch. However, we did see this interesting activity in the park:

This guy is getting his ears cleaned by one of the professional ear cleaners that walk around the park, while having tea and snacks, for less than $1.50! We were tempted, but didn't end up trying it.

It would've been nice to rest up in Chengdu for a few days but we had already booked tickets for Huang Shan so off we went after only a short stay.

Without meaning to, our next few destinations are all related to the Silk Road. Dunhuang is another important city on the Silk Road, but it is most famous for the Mogao Grottoes, caves that contain elaborate Buddhist paintings and sculptures. It's a lot grander and more important historically than the Yungang Grottoes we saw in Datong because it has over 700 caves and contain artwork created over a millennium starting at 366AD.

To protect the artwork, the only way to see the caves is with a guide and the tour only includes 10 caves. The experience is slightly diminished since we couldn't wander through the caves at our leisure, but what we got to see were impressive enough. One of the more famous caves contains the world's 3rd largest Buddha figure, standing at over 34.5 meters high. Photos were not allowed inside so here I am outside of the cave. To give you an idea for the scale, the Buddha is the same height as the building behind me:

Another famous cave is the library cave because it originally contained over 50,000 rare and original manuscripts dating as far back as 400AD. Interesting story: the manuscripts were discovered centuries after the Mogao caves fell into ruins and were almost covered up by the Gobi sand. Thinking he's doing a good thing, the guy who found the cave sold the manuscripts to raise money to restore the cave and build a 3-story exterior outside of the cave. Unfortunately for the Chinese, he sold the priceless manuscripts to foreigners for very little money so only about 8000 of the inferior manuscripts remain in China, and the rest are in various museums around the world.

After a night's rest to recoup from the bus ride and the long day, we moved on to our next stop on the Silk Road, JiaYuGuan. Dunhuang to JiaYuGuan is only(!) a 5-hour bus ride.... not too painful. JiaYuGuan is where the Great Wall ends. Having climbed the Great Wall in Beijing, it's pretty cool to climb the western end of it, some 2200 KM (1367 miles) away.

Also, the fort at JiaYuGuan historically symbolizes the end of “civilized” China and the beginning of “barbaric” land. Exiled officials, scholars, etc., all leave through the West Gate into unprotected land. It was at the end of the day so the West Gate was already closed, but looking out through the crack it does look pretty barren and desolate.

Our last top on the Silk Road tour is Xian. As the ancient capital of China, it marked the end (or beginning) of the Silk Road.

Today, the main reason people come to Xian is to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. China's first emperor, Emperor Qin, built this army of 8000 life size terracotta warriors around 200BC as part of his mausoleum so that he has an army to protect him and to keep him in control in his afterlife. The most impressive part, I think, is that each face is unique. I always thought it's because they were real soldiers, but in reality (and the less gruesome truth) the workers based their models on real soldiers they saw around them.

In general the food in these places were just ok. Being part of the west, the "specialty" dishes were Islamic food like mutton kebobs. However, they all paled in comparison to what we had in Kashgar. I was told that we should have the dumpling feast while in Xian, but Ashok was not feeling well after our meal in Jiayuguan the day before so unfortunately we had to skip it.

Stopping only 1-2 days in each place is pretty tiring so we're looking forward to resting in the next city or two... or we may have to wait until we get to Thailand.

Here are the places mentioned on this blog:

From Beijing we flew all the way to Kashgar (aka Kashi), Xingjiang, on the western border of China (equivalent in distance to going from NY to LA). Kashgar was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road that linked trade between Europe, Central Asia, and China. Most of the population is made up of the Uighur minority group who has more in common with Central Asians than with the Chinese living to the east, in looks, religion, food, and lifestyle. In fact, many only speak Uighur and not Chinese. Walking around, I felt like we had left China and entered a different country.

Apparently some of the locals feel the same way and want to be independent - there have been protests and violence in the past, though quickly cracked down by the central government. How many Uighurs really feel that way, and whether they are right or not, depends on who you talk to, the age of the person, and whether that person is Uighur or Han Chinese. That said, we didn't feel any of that tension as we walked around.

Kashgar is a very cool and interesting place. It's not as developed as other cities so one can still see the traditional Uighur way of life just by walking around. We went to the Sunday livestock market where people from villages around Kashgar bring their animals (cows, goats/sheep, donkeys, horses, camels) to sell.
There are also vendors selling other things on the outer part of the market. We had a guide (one of our hotel employees offered to be our guide for a fee) who explained things to us and translated for us. Being a city girl, I've never been in such close proximity to so many animals so it was definitely an experience. It's sad if you think about the fate of the animals, but at the same time it was fascinating to watch.

Of course I also had to check out the eateries along the outer ring of the market... the way they hang the freshly cut lamb makes New York Chinatown look like child's play. It's definitely not a place for vegetarians or the weak of heart.

Here's a man making another Uighur specialty dish - Laghman noodles (i.e. pulled noodles):

Kashgar, in general, is a great place for foodies. The specialty here is Muslim food and were they good! The mutton kebobs were some of the best I've ever tasted; the lamb in the Pilaf (a rice dish similar in concept to Indian Pulao or Biriyani or Spanish Paella) was so tender it literally melted in your mouth; and the Samsas (baked mutton dumplings) were on the fatty side but really flavorful. They do like their mutton fat here so it is not a good place for my waistline to stay too long.

I didn't know it but Kashgar (and Xingjiang in general) is known for its fruits as well: super big and sweet pomegranates from Kashgar, sweet and juicy grapes from Turpan, and melons from Hami, to name a few.

We took a day trip from Kashgar to Karakul Lake via the scenic Karakoram Highway, the highest mountain pass road in the world. The highway goes over the Khunjerab Pass, through glacial-peaked mountains and ends at the Pakistan border, but we didn't have enough time to go that far. Just as well since I already experienced some minor altitude sickness at Karakul Lake which is around 3500 meters high. The section we drove through to get to Karakul Lake was scenic enough with red-sandstone canyons, sand dunes, and views of glacial peaks in the distance.

This is Kumtagh (White Sand Lake in Chinese) on the way to Karakul Lake. It's usually really windy but it was perfectly calm when we were there so you can see the reflections of the sand dunes in the lake.

We weren't as lucky at Karakul Lake so this is the best reflection I got of the ice mountains ringing the lake.

After Kashgar, the other cities in XingJiang were rather disappointing. Urumqi, the capital of Xingjiang, is a much bigger city than I expected especially being out here in the middle of nowhere, but it is just another big Chinese city. We made good use of our afternoon there and headed to the Xingjiang Museum where we saw a 8000 year old skull and 3800 year old mummies all preserved by the dry desert sand. That was pretty cool.

Turpan, another important Silk Road City, had many famous sites in addition to the grapes, but all of them were either way over-hyped or too contrived (the traditional Uighur village felt more like a show, complete with entrance fees, a parking lot for tourists, and gift/snack shops in the village). The one good place was the Jiaohe ruins which was established around 2nd century AD. It's one of the world's largest, oldest, and best preserved ancient cities. We practically had the place to ourselves and were able to really appreciate the place.

At least with Turpan, I can now say that I've been to the 2nd lowest place in the world (Dead Sea is the lowest).

Oh, and we had an amazing mutton dish at this restaurant around the corner from our hotel:

Another reason to regret going to Turpan is that we were forced to take a sleeper bus to our next destination, Dunhuang, because the train tickets were sold out. Instead of seats there are bunk beds lined up in rows. Typical of the Chinese, they crammed as many beds in there as possible, not leaving much room in the aisles or any room for a toilet on the bus.

The couple in the picture is this Slovenian couple we met on the bus.

As if that's not enough, they actually oversold the beds so there was one more person in the aisle next to Ashok so I think he got elbowed a couple of times during the night. Despite the smell and the questionable bedding (we brought our own sheets), the 13-hour bus ride wouldn't have been that bad if it wasn't also freezing. We stretched our jackets as much as possible to cover up. Really should have brought sleeping bags for this trip. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much and were so happy when the ride was over.

One last funny picture: it's fairly common, especially in smaller towns and in the countryside, to put babies in these open bottom pants. Just hold the kid over the toilet (or by the roadside)... no need for diapers. Very environmentally friendly!

A note for those thinking about going to Xinjiang: I highly recommend going to Kashgar, especially before it becomes more touristy as they are planning to open an international terminal. Here's the phone number of our driver to Karakul Lake. He's really really nice (and honest) and took good care of us, and even translated for Ashok when he was taking pictures. He only speaks Chinese so either use the hotel as interpreter or do a lot of charades:
Kashi Tiao-Er 13119980657

The Trans-Mongolian Railway connects Ulaan Baatar to Beijing, China, and is what most people take as part of the Trans-Siberian Train trip. Instead of going straight to Beijing, we decided to stop in Datong first since it was one of places on my list. We book the deluxe class (i.e. we had the compartment to ourselves) which was good given the amount of luggage we have. It was great! In addition to the bunk beds, we had a little seating area and a shower (we didn't try it out). The decor is a little outdated, but clean, and an upgrade after Mongolia. The train conductor took care of us and made sure we had plenty of hot water for tea & stuff.

The 24-hour ride flew by pretty fast. Even the 4 hour border crossing into China was interesting watching them lift up the train cars to change out the wheels (the China and Mongolian train tracks are different widths). Train travel is definitely the way to go if you have the time and the money for the soft sleeper compartments. There's more space to move around, and so much more relaxing....

The main attractions in Datong are the Hanging Monastery and the Yungang Grottoes. For us, there was the added bonus of relaxing in our 4-star hotel (for $50!). To have a real bathroom and be able to take a nice long hot shower without having to worry about not touching anything around you!

The hanging monastery is not really hanging, but built onto the face of a cliff so it looks like it's hanging precariously. It's pretty impressive considering it's over 1500 years old!

The Yungang Grottoes are a series of caves that have Buddhist carvings from around 500AD, constructed under the patronage of the royalty. The best preserved ones have the statues and paintings all over the cave and are quite impressive.

One of them has a large Buddha that is over 17 meters tall. Check out the size of the hands vs the tourists standing in front of it.

It is hard not to run into tour groups in China as we are finding out (more on Chinese tour groups later), but we managed to get into a couple of caves that are not on the typical route. Whereas the popular caves are impressive and give you an idea for what the caves were like in their heyday, the unrestored caves were much more peaceful and solemn.

We were excited to be in China for the food, especially after 10 days of similar mutton dishes. We were told that the 2 specialty dishes in Datong are Dao-Shao-Mien (knife-cut-noodles), and rabbit head (!). We decided to pass on the rabbit heads. The noodles, on the other hand, were really good. The most popular toppings are pork or beef stew, but the noodles themselves have a lot of flavor and good texture. There's also a very popular appetizer/side dish which is cold soybean jelly mixed with lots of chili and hot oil (I know my description doesn't sound appetizing but it was good!). It's so slippery that it really tests ones chopsticks skills. Our driver took us to a place in the town near the Hanging Monastery that apparently makes the best jelly noodles. It doesn't look like much of a place but the food was yummy.

I always thought I'm pretty adventurous in food, but after being in China just a couple of days I realized I am not at all. In this northern town I also saw camel meat, mule meat, and even dog meat on the menu (didn't try any of it)! We would've stayed in this town longer to rest up, but we left because the food (that we can eat) besides the noodles were just so-so. Besides, we still have the rest of China to see.

The train from Datong to Beijing was comfortable, but not as nice as the other train. We shared a compartment with 2 other people – one older man from Beijing and a middle-aged man from Shanghai. It was interesting to hear them contradict each other on almost everything, from where we should visit to current government policies.

Since we've been to Beijing before, we skipped all the typical tourist sights. We did revisit Tiananmen Square and made our way out to the new Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest. Apparently all the Beijing tour groups have the same idea because that area was packed with people. Can't imagine what the area was like during the Olympic Games.

The Chinese really went all out with the Olympics, and are still milking it as we still see Olympics related signs and commercials everywhere. This is just the entrance to the subway station at the Olympic Park.

Finally, if you're still interested in seeing more, here's the outdoor market in Datong and a woman trying to load 3 huge bags of potatoes onto her bike. Not sure how she planned on riding it home.

Photos are a bit quirky to upload right now, but I will have more of China soon....