Silk Road, China 絲綢之路 (18 Apr - 3 May 2003)

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Riding camel the first time, right outside the wester gate of Jia Yu Guang.

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From Jia Yu Guang we took a whole day overland drive to Dun Huang. On the way we had our first taste of the vast desert land of wester China. Along the road we could still see the destruction caused by the sand storm of the previous day.

The next morning, we decided to take a 2-hour camel ride in the desert to the Mogao Grottos.

The desert is not entirely deserted. We saw large patch of burial ground (1st picture) where people draw boundary of the plot for the tombs. Those willing to spend the money or efforts actually built short walls around the plot.

For us city people, camel ride was fun for the first 30-minute. Then it started to get boring....

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One of the most famous grottos in China. No pictures allowed inside.

Unfortunately I had not read enough background information to digest the rich histories and stories.

From what I understand, lots of the mural paintings was commissioned by rich families or regional officials. We spent hours there listening to facinating stories of the grottos.

Lots of the paintings and scrolls were taken away by adventurers in the early 1900s, and I hope they have enough fund to preserve whatever remains there.

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On 23 April, we took an over night train from Dun Huang to Turpan. As our local guide took us to the train station, we can see that he was busy and bit nervous. Instead of settling us down at the VIP waiting room, which we were entitled to since we booked soft-sleeper private rooms, he was running around whispering to people. He never give us our tickets even as we board the train.

Something fishy was going on.

Once we settled on the train - which was practically empty in the soft-sleeper section, we started to theorize what happened. Our conclusion was that the Dun Huang guide knew the train was empty in the soft-sleeper, so he paid the rail company low price hard-seats, then bribe train officers to give us the soft-sleepers that we paid for. That's why we never saw the tickets, couldn't get into the VIP waiting room, and his nervousness at the station.

Once the train set in motion, we visited the regular hard-seat section out of curiosity. It was very crowed, smelly, and kind of having a mini party going on with the staff and passengers. The staff were very laid back and boisterously friendly, almost to the point of clowning around.

When we came back to our "luxurious" section, we got another surprise. As soon as the girl in charge of our section learnt that we came from Hong Kong, she jumped 10 feet away, then maxed out the AC in our section to provide "better" ventilations.

First order of the day was to visit the Jiao He ruins. Jiao He means "meeting of rivers" in Chinese. The name described the tableland between two rivers where the former fortress town was built on.

The first picture of the street of Jiao He, and the second picture shows the river bed where the river is largely gone.

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On the edge of the Jiao He town is the remains of a large Buddhist temple. The temple was destroyed when the area is converted to Muslim. The headless Buddha was the only statue remaining in the temple ground.

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These kids hung out in an ancient tombs we visited near Turpan. They were curious about our group but initially shied  away from the camera.

But a pack of Oreo cookies broke the ice, and brought the bright smiles.

They were keen to see how they looked in the camera. So the best gift to them would have been an instant photo.

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As we entered Xin Jiang, probably the biggest province of China, we witness the vast desert land that was quite busy.

There were construction almost everywhere along the road - from laying fiber optics to gas pipelines.

Contrast to our expectation before the trip, the road actually gets wider and better in Xin Jiang.

The second picture is taken near a gas station where many restaurants catering for truck drivers from all over the country. The signs advertising difference cuisine from southwestern China (e.g. Sichuang) to northeastern China (e.g. Liaoning.)

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As we were getting close to Urumqi, the highways got wider and better.

Of course, there is no free lunch, such as the road sign reminds travelers. The sign near the toll gate says "Highway Built With Loans, Toll Repays Debts."

The second picture is a rather strange scene in another toll gate. The toll gate staff were lining up near the toll booth, wearing banner that says "serving the people."

Not even our guide knew what's going on. He speculated that perhaps the toll station got a new management, who was eager to show his service pledge (in a wrong way, in my opinion.)

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We visited the Nan Shan Pastureland near Urumqi. It was the beginning of the high tourism season, yet we were the only visitors that morning.

As we arrived the forest, about 20 horse back riding vendors surrounded our van fighting for the chance to be hired. They throw the horse whips into the van hoping that we will pick up theirs.

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My horse waiting for me while I am taking photos.

My guide was a young man of the Kazak ethnic group. At the time of our visit, he was still a university student.

He started as a quiet man, and only at the end of the trip he started to talk more about himself and his world view. His dream was to live in Kazakhstand, where he decribe a rosy picture about jobs and economic growth.

In a later encountered with another group of Kazaks in Xinjiang, we came to realized that the Kazaks don't feel at home partly bacause they are the minority among the minorities in Xinjiang - where the Uygur is the population majority and the Han is the political and economic majority.