May holiday travels
In China there are two main national holidays outside of Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) – the first week of October celebrates the founding of the PRC (National Day), and the first week of May celebrates International Labor Day. Every May holiday the provincial leaders organize a trip available to the Gansu “foreign experts” (yeah, that’s me) to see parts of the province generally missed by the guide books. This year they took us on a 5 day excursion to Longnan, the Southeast region of Gansu, a far greener place than I am used to. The first day was a bus marathon through some stunningly wild canyons somehow lined with the age-old terracing to be found in nearly all agricultural regions of China. We stayed at Wudou that night, and spent the next day at Tianchi Lake, a smooth and clear gem set into the mountain top high above a steep and verdant valley. The next day we went to Wan Xiang Dong, a cavern complex cleverly enhanced with garish colored lights to help us enjoy the natural beauty. Still, it was fun – anyone willing to clamber through a pretty small rock tunnel into the back section of the caverns could see some very old inscriptions, and scramble around some areas that I imagine might have been off limits in any American caverns this developed. I predictably managed to crack my head on some rocks on the way out, but nothing that some aspirin and a few days of ouches couldn't fix.
We continued on through a long series of valleys that afternoon to a small town even closer to the Gansu/Sichuan border. After dinner, the Townsends and Kari surprised me with a birthday cake! There is really only one chain bakery in these parts, called Aili Cake. We're pretty sure that the 3 to 1 icing to cake ratio proves that birthday cakes in China are really only for having food fights with (this also seems to be what the average Chinese family thinks judging by viewing birthday dinners out on the town). More relevant to this story, the cakes come with a Burger King style crown which I wore out to pick up beer and snacks after dinner. Pretty much every person that we passed in this tiny town gave me a Happy Birthday greeting… it’s probably one of only a few phrases in English a lot of them knew. As my students would say “it gave me a good feeling.” The next day we spent all day hiking through a valley in a national park called Guan e' Gou. The ravine passed waterfalls and beautiful trees and eventually climbed up to the snowline of a big mountain. Some people climbed up into the snow, but we stopped at a shelter just below if for some cards and some serious basking in the sun. That night we had some fairly unpalatable roasted sheep for dinner (I think I'm one of the only people that enjoyed that particular meal. What can I say, I love mutton, even over-roasted!), but were treated to a bonfire and traditional dancing afterwards.
The last day was another marathon bus trip all the way back up to Lanzhou. We were actually making fairly good time and were reallllly starting to look forward to dinner when we ran into a traffic jam. In the middle of the countryside. Seems that one side of the road ahead was being repaired and a cement truck got a little too close to the shoulder of the other side and it caved in, leaving that truck tilted and firmly stuck. Unwilling to wait for a resolution to the problem, a truck full of boulders decided to have a try with the side of the road under construction. As soon as it got completely into the repair zone, it promptly sank through the loose soil and was also firmly stuck. Neither of the trucks, quite possibly the two heaviest around, looked to be going anywhere soon, but they had effectively blocked the whole road – something which certainly didn't deter all the other drivers on either side of them from jockeying for position, filling the roads both in front and behind of the dueling trucks. Various official vehicles drove up but had nothing to offer and left. We were convinced that we were going to be there all night, and the provincial leaders didn't seem prepared to entertain the thought of back-tracking. Finally, after surprisingly few hours, a digger and a chain and some sort of steam roller were cleverly rigged up to pull them free, and off we went.
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The next night, Ben and I and John and Erin Townsend took the overnight train up to Jiayuguan, site of the most westerly fort of the Great Wall. It guarded what has traditionally been considered the 'mouth' of China, and is smack dab where the Silk Road moved into China from Xinjiang (to the west) and Persia (even farther west). We saw some fairly uninteresting tombs from the Wei and Jin dynasties, walked along a reconstructed section of the Great Wall, and finally checked out the fort which was really very impressive. Jiayuguan is located in a small oasis, with gravelly desert all around and the beautiful snowy peaks of the Qilian Mountains in the distance. There are also some lovely smokestacks billowing smog out the back of the town these days.
We found a great driver who was headed to the oasis town Dunhuang that afternoon to pick up a 9-day contract job that he had from a travel agency, so he took the four of us along with him for just over his gas costs. It was a great deal for a 5 hour drive through the desert, and he was a great guy. He was incredibly patient with us, willing to explain himself over and over again in different ways in order to point out things like the nuclear power (?) plant we saw in the distance. We chatted quite a bit and by the time we got to Dunhuang, he announced that he wanted to be a volunteer too, and offered to take us out to one of the main tourist sites for no extra fee. Sweet as his offer was, we were pooped for the day, and wanted to find a place to stay and some cold drinks. Before he drove off though, he reminded us again that he too was a volunteer!
Our hostel had a pretty fancy lobby, and although our dorm room was in a much shabbier wing of the place, the beds felt comfortable and the shower had both hot water AND pressure. At the end of the hallway past our room was what looked like a lounge:
Kristen: “Hey John, is that a rec room at the end of the hall? Do you there there is any pool?”
John: “Not sure – maybe some snooker…”
::cut to Chinese girls in an array of baby doll nighties and heels flouncing past us down the hall::
Staying in a whore house really isn't so bad, though there was a pretty noisy exodus around 5am.
The next day we had a lazy day in Dunhuang which is a pretty laid back little town, and then headed out to Ming Sha Shan once it started getting a little cooler. Ming Sha Shan is the biggest of a series of picture perfect sand dunes that roll away from the outskirts of the oasis. John and Erin headed inside of the park, and Ben and I headed around the sides to find a guide and some camels to take us out into the desert for the night. Buttercup was my camel and I have to say she was a little skittish, but she didn't spit on me, so I think we got along okay. Ben was riding sweet sure-footed Charlie. We made our way out into the dunes and caught the sunset just as a great wind started to pick up. It was... perfect. Coolest place I've ever camped, though the wind made getting the tent up pretty difficult! The next morning, we woke up to an eerie sunrise and hungry camels.
After meeting back up with the Townsends, we headed out to the Mogao Caves for the afternoon, a really ancient site considered to be the greatest depository of Buddhist art and scripture. We were able to go into about 10-15 of the hundreds of caves dug into the cliffs. One held an enormous seated Buddha, several stories tall. Standing at his feet and staring up at him literally struck us dumb. It was absolutely awe-inspiring. We also saw the famous reclining Buddha whose delicacy and lines reminded me of the some ancient Greek marble work, though more simple. I think it's the loveliest statue I've seen yet in China. We also saw the library cave, which once contained thousands upon thousands of the manuscripts accumulated from passing caravans and wanderers passing through this cross-roads on the Silk Road and had been secretly sealed up for centuries. Unfortunately, nearly all the manuscripts were taken out by one European group after another in the early 1900s.
That night we took the train home – I think all four of us were ready for another week of vacation just to recover from all the traveling! It was a great week though – we traveled from the very bottom of Gansu where it was brilliantly green and terraced, to the deserts above Lanzhou, far to the north. It was a special look at the province we live in, and definitely gave me a better perspective on the myriad environments and challenges that face the very poor areas of Western China.
--> Check out pictures in the Gansu collection at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/china-travels/collections/
We continued on through a long series of valleys that afternoon to a small town even closer to the Gansu/Sichuan border. After dinner, the Townsends and Kari surprised me with a birthday cake! There is really only one chain bakery in these parts, called Aili Cake. We're pretty sure that the 3 to 1 icing to cake ratio proves that birthday cakes in China are really only for having food fights with (this also seems to be what the average Chinese family thinks judging by viewing birthday dinners out on the town). More relevant to this story, the cakes come with a Burger King style crown which I wore out to pick up beer and snacks after dinner. Pretty much every person that we passed in this tiny town gave me a Happy Birthday greeting… it’s probably one of only a few phrases in English a lot of them knew. As my students would say “it gave me a good feeling.” The next day we spent all day hiking through a valley in a national park called Guan e' Gou. The ravine passed waterfalls and beautiful trees and eventually climbed up to the snowline of a big mountain. Some people climbed up into the snow, but we stopped at a shelter just below if for some cards and some serious basking in the sun. That night we had some fairly unpalatable roasted sheep for dinner (I think I'm one of the only people that enjoyed that particular meal. What can I say, I love mutton, even over-roasted!), but were treated to a bonfire and traditional dancing afterwards.
The last day was another marathon bus trip all the way back up to Lanzhou. We were actually making fairly good time and were reallllly starting to look forward to dinner when we ran into a traffic jam. In the middle of the countryside. Seems that one side of the road ahead was being repaired and a cement truck got a little too close to the shoulder of the other side and it caved in, leaving that truck tilted and firmly stuck. Unwilling to wait for a resolution to the problem, a truck full of boulders decided to have a try with the side of the road under construction. As soon as it got completely into the repair zone, it promptly sank through the loose soil and was also firmly stuck. Neither of the trucks, quite possibly the two heaviest around, looked to be going anywhere soon, but they had effectively blocked the whole road – something which certainly didn't deter all the other drivers on either side of them from jockeying for position, filling the roads both in front and behind of the dueling trucks. Various official vehicles drove up but had nothing to offer and left. We were convinced that we were going to be there all night, and the provincial leaders didn't seem prepared to entertain the thought of back-tracking. Finally, after surprisingly few hours, a digger and a chain and some sort of steam roller were cleverly rigged up to pull them free, and off we went.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The next night, Ben and I and John and Erin Townsend took the overnight train up to Jiayuguan, site of the most westerly fort of the Great Wall. It guarded what has traditionally been considered the 'mouth' of China, and is smack dab where the Silk Road moved into China from Xinjiang (to the west) and Persia (even farther west). We saw some fairly uninteresting tombs from the Wei and Jin dynasties, walked along a reconstructed section of the Great Wall, and finally checked out the fort which was really very impressive. Jiayuguan is located in a small oasis, with gravelly desert all around and the beautiful snowy peaks of the Qilian Mountains in the distance. There are also some lovely smokestacks billowing smog out the back of the town these days.
We found a great driver who was headed to the oasis town Dunhuang that afternoon to pick up a 9-day contract job that he had from a travel agency, so he took the four of us along with him for just over his gas costs. It was a great deal for a 5 hour drive through the desert, and he was a great guy. He was incredibly patient with us, willing to explain himself over and over again in different ways in order to point out things like the nuclear power (?) plant we saw in the distance. We chatted quite a bit and by the time we got to Dunhuang, he announced that he wanted to be a volunteer too, and offered to take us out to one of the main tourist sites for no extra fee. Sweet as his offer was, we were pooped for the day, and wanted to find a place to stay and some cold drinks. Before he drove off though, he reminded us again that he too was a volunteer!
Our hostel had a pretty fancy lobby, and although our dorm room was in a much shabbier wing of the place, the beds felt comfortable and the shower had both hot water AND pressure. At the end of the hallway past our room was what looked like a lounge:
Kristen: “Hey John, is that a rec room at the end of the hall? Do you there there is any pool?”
John: “Not sure – maybe some snooker…”
::cut to Chinese girls in an array of baby doll nighties and heels flouncing past us down the hall::
Staying in a whore house really isn't so bad, though there was a pretty noisy exodus around 5am.
The next day we had a lazy day in Dunhuang which is a pretty laid back little town, and then headed out to Ming Sha Shan once it started getting a little cooler. Ming Sha Shan is the biggest of a series of picture perfect sand dunes that roll away from the outskirts of the oasis. John and Erin headed inside of the park, and Ben and I headed around the sides to find a guide and some camels to take us out into the desert for the night. Buttercup was my camel and I have to say she was a little skittish, but she didn't spit on me, so I think we got along okay. Ben was riding sweet sure-footed Charlie. We made our way out into the dunes and caught the sunset just as a great wind started to pick up. It was... perfect. Coolest place I've ever camped, though the wind made getting the tent up pretty difficult! The next morning, we woke up to an eerie sunrise and hungry camels.
After meeting back up with the Townsends, we headed out to the Mogao Caves for the afternoon, a really ancient site considered to be the greatest depository of Buddhist art and scripture. We were able to go into about 10-15 of the hundreds of caves dug into the cliffs. One held an enormous seated Buddha, several stories tall. Standing at his feet and staring up at him literally struck us dumb. It was absolutely awe-inspiring. We also saw the famous reclining Buddha whose delicacy and lines reminded me of the some ancient Greek marble work, though more simple. I think it's the loveliest statue I've seen yet in China. We also saw the library cave, which once contained thousands upon thousands of the manuscripts accumulated from passing caravans and wanderers passing through this cross-roads on the Silk Road and had been secretly sealed up for centuries. Unfortunately, nearly all the manuscripts were taken out by one European group after another in the early 1900s.
That night we took the train home – I think all four of us were ready for another week of vacation just to recover from all the traveling! It was a great week though – we traveled from the very bottom of Gansu where it was brilliantly green and terraced, to the deserts above Lanzhou, far to the north. It was a special look at the province we live in, and definitely gave me a better perspective on the myriad environments and challenges that face the very poor areas of Western China.
--> Check out pictures in the Gansu collection at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/china-travels/collections/
posted by Kristen at
Monday, June 11, 2007
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