Man Man Zou

After Kashgar, which is at the end of the Northern Silk Road, we took a 4 hour bus to a small town called Karghilik (Yechang). We didn’t want to backtrack down the long route we had taken into Xinjiang province, so we decided to take the southern Silk Road back to central China.

There wasn’t much to Karghilik except a little mosque that we visited, and there wasn’t even a decent place to stay. We were forced to stay at an overpriced bus station hotel because the other hotels in town wouldn’t accept foreigners. That was the first time we weren’t allowed to stay in a hotel, though apparently it often happens throughout China (and, as we later learned, it happened a lot in Xinjiang province).

The people in town were very friendly though, and the kids followed us around and all wanted their photos taken. It’s a little embarrassing taking photos of kids when their parents are around, even though the kids ask for it. I just feel like I’m not doing the right thing, though turning down the kids would be strange too.

The next day we took a 5 hour bus to Hotan, which I have heard great things about from other travelers I’ve met. There is also a huge Sunday Market in Hotan, apparently even larger than the market in Kashgar. It was also the start of a week long National Day holiday, so we figured it would be best to hide out in a small remote city in China because I remember how difficult it was to get accommodation in Taiwan during the holidays.

Hotan was ok, but I don’t really have fond memories of it because we stayed at such a horrible, overpriced hotel (Hetian Yingbinguan- they never cleaned our room the entire three days). We always avoid Lonely Planet recommended hotels because they have always been the worst we’ve come across and the hotels jack up their prices once they’re mentioned in the book, but we had no choice because we had to stay in hotels that accept foreigners.

And now on to the good things about Hotan. We walked around the old town areas a lot on the first day, and were bombarded with people (kids and adults) who wanted their photos taken. The light was terrible- very, very harsh- but I couldn’t turn them down. After we took their photos, we asked a driver to take us to a photo developing place and we printed out some of the photos for the people. We brought them back and they were so excited that they asked for more. It got really crazy as many more people came out onto the streets and kept asking me for their photo. I’d be in the middle of one shot, and someone would tap me on the shoulder because they wanted to be next. Talk about feeling popular! We again went to the photo developing place and printed out 15 more photos for the people and brought them back. All of this somehow took up the whole day and I don’t think we returned to old town again after that, in fear that I’d have to do that all over again.

On Sunday we went to the big market. It was huge! I’m sure we didn’t see nearly all of it, as it went in all directions down every street. There were specific areas for the things for sale- donkeys, jade, brass and copperware, horses, wood, onions, grapes, knives, etc… They didn’t inflate prices for foreigners as much as they did in Kashgar, so I bought some cheap jade, something that Hotan is famous for.

We made a friend in Hotan, the guy who drove us to and from the film developing place. I thought he was trying to drive us around so he could ask an enormous price afterwards, but it ended up he just wanted to hang out with us (a rarity in China). He’s a driver during the week, but we ran into him at the livestock market and saw that he was selling a few of his goats and sheep. He said that his big, fat sheep could sell for 2000 Yuan ($250). That’s pretty good money!

After a few days in Hotan, we took an overnight bus to Urumqi, completely crossing the beautiful Taklamakan Desert in 20 hours. It was a sleeper bus, which is still a novelty to me, though a little stressful because there was no bathroom the bus (there are never bathrooms on the buses). I’ve gotten used to peeing on the side of exposed desert roads, but it’s always a stress of wondering when the driver will stop. There are usually mostly guys on the buses in China, which makes it even more difficult. At one point I was eyeing the empty bottle next to me, but luckily there was a police check point (a manhunt for a young male) so I ran off the bus to go pee when we stopped.

Urumqi is the capital of Xinjiang province, and one of the few cities we’ve visited so far in China. There are almost 3 million people living here, so we have the convenience of a large supermarket which we have visited everyday while here. This is our fourth day in Urumqi, and we’re leaving tonight on an overnight train to Lanzhou, Gansu province.

I like Urumqi, though we didn’t do much here except eat a lot of yoghurt (in fear that it’s the last we’ll get now that we’re leaving the desert). I also had my last plate of laghman, the Uyghur noodle dish that is almost similar to spaghetti (in fact, it is said that Marco Polo brought laghman back to Italy and thus spaghetti was born). Now, I’m very sick of laghman though, and today I could only eat half my portion.

We went to a newly opened museum that showed all of the minorities in Xinjiang province. Because of all the neighboring countries, there are many! I really think Xinjiang is a special place in China, and I kind of feel sorry for travelers (especially photographers) who travel China without visiting this province because it’s so diverse. The museum also had a section of 400 year old preserved bodies that were found in tombs around Xinjiang province. Very cool!

Yesterday was Mark’s birthday, but we only had $13 left so we couldn’t do anything! Xinjiang province has no ATMs for foreign cards, and we couldn’t exchange our travelers cheques because all the banks were closed for the holidays and the hotels wouldn’t accept our cheques if we weren’t staying there. We had planned to go to a lake that day, but instead we just hung around the city until the banks opened for a short time, allowing us to exchange our cheques. By then it was too late to go to the lake. After we got our cash, we ate cake, went on the internet, and then later that night we dined at Pizza Hut- one of the most expensive and prestigious places around. Happy Birthday Mark!