Ray, silk Road. TURPAN TO URUMQI (ER-UM-CHEE) JUNE 10-11.
Miserable train ride and the last in china thank god. Boarded at 4 AM and arrive at 11AM…but they wake us at 8 AM…no food. We board the bus and go directly to the ancient Buddhist city of Jaioqhe perched on a cliff like island between 2 rivers. It is made of pounded adobe (clay and clay brick)…wind erosion has left little to be seen…it is about 2 km by 3meters Much of it is underground, only temples above ground. Most of the ancient cities in this area were Buddhist until the Muslims attacked in 14th century. We finally get to eat at 2PM, then taken to the hotel and out again in ½ hour from 3:30 to 9:15…I went to bed hunger. I was so tired I was cross eyed. Saw more underground tombs, the ancient city of Gaochang about 4 km in circumference. Same as the other in terms of shape. Then more underground tombs (Confucian and Buddhist). Incredible artifacts from here are in the Museum…unbelievable beauty in sculpture, jewels, combs, pottery etc. Finally to the Kartz underground water supply….5000 km of underground tunnels dug 2000 years ago and still operating to bring snow melt from the mountains with no evaporation. One of the great wonders of the world. Smaller projects dug in ancient times all over the region. Oh yes and also saw the Emin Minaret (about 140 feet high) build in 1777.
So damn hot can’t compare it…39C…drank 4 liters of water and hardly urinated. We are again all miserable with exhaustion and burning sinus’s….today June 10, 2010 we leave for Urumqi, a very modern city, which is 3000 meters high and in the mountains.
This is Uygur country…I notice more poverty in the small towns. Their features are dark and range from almond eyes and flat nose to very delicate features, straight noses and often slender builds.
This area is filled with industry….oil, mining, refining, coal fired elect plants, and another huge wind farm (actually 3 huge wind farms by the time we finished the ride). It is an oasis…grapes everywhere along with other crops….happy to report I can still get green veggie’s…baby bok choy and green beans…always with rice, some meat and noodles with every meal. Very filling but don’t feel stuffed and thank god it lasts…often I go with 2 meals a day. In Turpan I noticed peoples beds are outside, too hot inside so they sleep in the yard.
Today a 7 hour bus ride with many breaks and again nothing but wind farms, laying pipeline, interstate is 4 lane and new, building a high speed train, already have the freight lines in, test drilling everywhere along with high tension wires, refining etc. I begin to think that every new congressman should have a required bus ride through this area and the rest of china to see what is happening in order to make good policy decision re USA. They are building infrastructure everywhere at a very fast pace…literally 1000s of huge trucks, excavators etc at work. They are eating our lunch and we argue re: right wing/ left wing and they just cruise on by. I suspect in 10 years China is a powerhouse beyond anything we can imagine. And we say they copy but don’t invent…guess what….they know that and the universities are now addressing that issue…creativity, inventing, starting businesses etc. They do not mess around. How can our congress make decisions when they operate in a cocoon of silly issues…the Australians laugh about us they say they are bad but we are ridiculous. Oh well enough.
In Urumqi we visited the museum and are blown out of the water….incredible display. Many of you may recall in the NY times about a month ago the travel section on the lost civilizations of W China. The people buried in boat like structures, with posts above ground…we saw the mummies and had an excellent guide…they are of the Euro-pod race, blond and red hair, beautiful delicate features, high cheek bones and long toes and fingers and gorgeous artifacts. This is from 3000 years ago and the dry conditions preserved them perfectly. They used no embalming, just laid them to rest in graves. Many artifacts of pottery, embroidered clothing, metal wind masks, compound bows with metal arrow tips. The area had one or more large lakes at that time. Now the Taklimakan desert is one of the hottest and second largest in the world. Many cities are perfectly preserved the climate change occurred so rapidly many personal items are found with bodies in the houses.
Another nasty group problem…you enter and leave all museums thro museum shops. Group got into shopping and bought but stayed on schedule. As we are leaving on a tight schedule(2:30 PM drive to Heavenly Lake and back for dinner and show at 7PM…drive takes 1 hours) Brian runs back and begins to negotiate on a piece of jade which he had been looking at for 30 minutes…the museum closes…won’t let the guide in and Brian walks out 45 minutes later with the jade and clueless that we have all been waiting and have now missed lunch and are rushed the rest of the day and arrive late at everything else. I started screaming at him and he just looks at you and smiles and talks about his jade purchase!!!
Heavenly Lake is like Lake Louise and again big hotel and new kitsch everywhere…then on to the Uyger folk show and meal…turns out to be a mediocre buffet and Bollywood show….just awful. That is my last; I swear to God they are awful. I was lucky enough to be able to turn off my hearing aids….others said they envied me as they suffered. AND THEN THE EVENT…..
At this point I have a horrible sinus infection, and need sleep. We get to hotel at 11PM…check in …I jump in the shower …1st of the day and a knock at the door. Thinking it was a group member I wrap in a towel soaking, opened the door and am pushed out of the way by a rather large busty babe, I grab her and turn her around and push yelling get out of here. Shaken I dry off and put on PJ’s and another knock, again open, and another young, high heeled tuned up babe tries to push in. At this point I call the desk, no one speaks English and after 10 minutes I am still hearing “is all ok” and then “just a minute” and on hold again. Now midnight and I call and ask them to locate the guide and I hope they understand. 10 minutes later I have the lights out am in bed (alone) and another knock…a women manager who can’t speak English just stares at me as I try to explain no women!(actually she was sort of attractive compared to the others). She walks off and I crawl in bed and another knock on the door….now a very slender high heeled babe just stands there saying “I come in”. Then the guide calls and I tell him he must call the desk and put a stop to this. Obviously the desk was cooperating as the women knew I had a single room and they knew the room number. At that point I am worked up and start thinking a pimp will break down my door demanding money…so I place all the chairs in a blocking position by the door. Finally I have a fitful night’s sleep and nightmares. We had to be up at 6Am breakfast and catch the bus to the airport at 7AM.
The group says I should be happy to be a 67 year old “babe magnet”. Turns out the hotel was an “entertainment hotel” with nightclubs and two floors and often frequented by Russians…perhaps I was a mistaken Russian.
Next to Kashgar (Kashi)
So damn hot can’t compare it…39C…drank 4 liters of water and hardly urinated. We are again all miserable with exhaustion and burning sinus’s….today June 10, 2010 we leave for Urumqi, a very modern city, which is 3000 meters high and in the mountains.
This is Uygur country…I notice more poverty in the small towns. Their features are dark and range from almond eyes and flat nose to very delicate features, straight noses and often slender builds.
This area is filled with industry….oil, mining, refining, coal fired elect plants, and another huge wind farm (actually 3 huge wind farms by the time we finished the ride). It is an oasis…grapes everywhere along with other crops….happy to report I can still get green veggie’s…baby bok choy and green beans…always with rice, some meat and noodles with every meal. Very filling but don’t feel stuffed and thank god it lasts…often I go with 2 meals a day. In Turpan I noticed peoples beds are outside, too hot inside so they sleep in the yard.
Today a 7 hour bus ride with many breaks and again nothing but wind farms, laying pipeline, interstate is 4 lane and new, building a high speed train, already have the freight lines in, test drilling everywhere along with high tension wires, refining etc. I begin to think that every new congressman should have a required bus ride through this area and the rest of china to see what is happening in order to make good policy decision re USA. They are building infrastructure everywhere at a very fast pace…literally 1000s of huge trucks, excavators etc at work. They are eating our lunch and we argue re: right wing/ left wing and they just cruise on by. I suspect in 10 years China is a powerhouse beyond anything we can imagine. And we say they copy but don’t invent…guess what….they know that and the universities are now addressing that issue…creativity, inventing, starting businesses etc. They do not mess around. How can our congress make decisions when they operate in a cocoon of silly issues…the Australians laugh about us they say they are bad but we are ridiculous. Oh well enough.
In Urumqi we visited the museum and are blown out of the water….incredible display. Many of you may recall in the NY times about a month ago the travel section on the lost civilizations of W China. The people buried in boat like structures, with posts above ground…we saw the mummies and had an excellent guide…they are of the Euro-pod race, blond and red hair, beautiful delicate features, high cheek bones and long toes and fingers and gorgeous artifacts. This is from 3000 years ago and the dry conditions preserved them perfectly. They used no embalming, just laid them to rest in graves. Many artifacts of pottery, embroidered clothing, metal wind masks, compound bows with metal arrow tips. The area had one or more large lakes at that time. Now the Taklimakan desert is one of the hottest and second largest in the world. Many cities are perfectly preserved the climate change occurred so rapidly many personal items are found with bodies in the houses.
Another nasty group problem…you enter and leave all museums thro museum shops. Group got into shopping and bought but stayed on schedule. As we are leaving on a tight schedule(2:30 PM drive to Heavenly Lake and back for dinner and show at 7PM…drive takes 1 hours) Brian runs back and begins to negotiate on a piece of jade which he had been looking at for 30 minutes…the museum closes…won’t let the guide in and Brian walks out 45 minutes later with the jade and clueless that we have all been waiting and have now missed lunch and are rushed the rest of the day and arrive late at everything else. I started screaming at him and he just looks at you and smiles and talks about his jade purchase!!!
Heavenly Lake is like Lake Louise and again big hotel and new kitsch everywhere…then on to the Uyger folk show and meal…turns out to be a mediocre buffet and Bollywood show….just awful. That is my last; I swear to God they are awful. I was lucky enough to be able to turn off my hearing aids….others said they envied me as they suffered. AND THEN THE EVENT…..
At this point I have a horrible sinus infection, and need sleep. We get to hotel at 11PM…check in …I jump in the shower …1st of the day and a knock at the door. Thinking it was a group member I wrap in a towel soaking, opened the door and am pushed out of the way by a rather large busty babe, I grab her and turn her around and push yelling get out of here. Shaken I dry off and put on PJ’s and another knock, again open, and another young, high heeled tuned up babe tries to push in. At this point I call the desk, no one speaks English and after 10 minutes I am still hearing “is all ok” and then “just a minute” and on hold again. Now midnight and I call and ask them to locate the guide and I hope they understand. 10 minutes later I have the lights out am in bed (alone) and another knock…a women manager who can’t speak English just stares at me as I try to explain no women!(actually she was sort of attractive compared to the others). She walks off and I crawl in bed and another knock on the door….now a very slender high heeled babe just stands there saying “I come in”. Then the guide calls and I tell him he must call the desk and put a stop to this. Obviously the desk was cooperating as the women knew I had a single room and they knew the room number. At that point I am worked up and start thinking a pimp will break down my door demanding money…so I place all the chairs in a blocking position by the door. Finally I have a fitful night’s sleep and nightmares. We had to be up at 6Am breakfast and catch the bus to the airport at 7AM.
The group says I should be happy to be a 67 year old “babe magnet”. Turns out the hotel was an “entertainment hotel” with nightclubs and two floors and often frequented by Russians…perhaps I was a mistaken Russian.
Next to Kashgar (Kashi)
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