China travel info

17 days, Dec 05- Jan 06

INTRO
IMPRESSIONS

THE TRAVEL

CHINA INTRO

Kind of travel:
A wholly independent travel

When:
23rd December 05- 8th January 06

How I moved:
train, train and still train apart of a bunch of times riding buses. Taxis in the cities are a convenient (0.8-2 euro) and safe way to move around

Freezing or baking?
freezing of course: Urumqi :-15C!!! Unlike Russia most of the times inside the trains, hotels and public places you'll be still shivering

Where I slept:
half of the nights on the train and the others in hotels. Sleeping trains are comfortable and very safe, while hot water in hotels is often unavailable (despite what they say you!!). Usually both the places are far from being warm, bring your own sleeping bag!

What I liked:
the approach of the people is laid back and dodgeys are rare. Travelling by train is fun, while getting the ticket can be a bet :-) I loved the food and had great laughs trying to communicate with the waiters. The frozen Saharan- like dunes in Dunhuang are impressive and. the great wall is... great!

What I disliked:
people spitting his catarrh everywhere (even on the train), the reservation system of the train tickets, the crowdy queuing to access at the train platform, freezing in the hotel rooms and the awfully smoky internet cafe'

How much daily:
travel in China is not expensive, even far from a south Asian budget. Anyway consider the east coast is the most expensive part of the country. my costs: hotel (double room: 6-18 euro), sleeping trains (12h in hard sleepers: 14-25 euro) and food (2-7 euro) = 20 euro/ day/ person

Dangers/ hassles:
frankly to me the country appeared very safe and not even the taxi drivers tried to cheat me. Of course bargaining is always an issue but far from being a real hassle. Beware crossing the streets since cars seem to have no brakes for pedestrians

What you do need:
sleeping bag and wear warm! A pocket Chinese phrasebook + learning to count in Chinese can make a huge difference especially buying the tickets (personally I attended an evening Chinese class)

IMPRESSIONS ABOUT CHINA

Despite initially not being deeply interested in the Chinese culture, my travel let me to appreciate this huge country and its paradoxes. In particular I was surprised by the relaxed approach of the Chinese towards the foreigners even in the rural areas. Of course sometimes I felt observed but I never experienced insisting and annoying behaviours. Nobody tried to cheat me even in the small things like giving the change or in the taxi.
On the other hand the paradoxes are generated by the government who want both to push like hell and to break completely the development according to his interests.
China is a huge country that year after year will become more and more heterogeneous; personally I found unique the western part (Xinjang) where you can really breath the Islamic influence, but from the “tourist” point of view, the eastern one is definitely more dense. Generally speaking, reading about the potential of the Chinese competitiveness or experiencing it in your country, it’s easy to get scared and pissed off, while travelling there you realise it’s the minimum reward they can deserve given their past. China drastically changed and will still change in the next years, I guess this reason is enough to travel there asap.

Alby

THE TRAVEL

[Travelling in Kazakhstan]

Landed in Almaty (ex Kazakh capital), I spent one day hanging around the green frozen city before catching the train for the long trip to Urumqi. To get to the border, to change the train wheels (the Russian rail gauge is wider) and to reach Urumqi turned out to take 33 hours. The train was quite empty, warm, and comfortable, so apart of the 10 hours waiting at the border, the time flew away.
The Kazakh landscape scrolling through the window was surreal: an endless desert covered by snow shaped by the wind.
In Urumqi the wind made us feel the real cold inside my bones. Although not among the best cities I’ve ever seen, it has been an interesting entry point to China, first of all for its muslim influence that makes Xinjiang an unique Chinese region.
One night on the train and few hours on a jumping minibus led us to the oasis of Dunhuang. Well worthy the visit for the Buddhist caves (“Mogao caves”) but overall for the frozen “moon crescent lake” surrounded by the huge Saharan like dunes: don’t miss the place!!!!
One night more on the train and I got in the grey and polluted Lanzhou, from where I arrived in the most rural town I have visited in China: Luomen. 18.00 pm: it was bloody dark when I got off the train, no street lamps and no paved road. I negotiated the price of the room in the small hotel of the town including three buckets of damned hot water. The day after I visited the canyon (“Lashao Si”;) and its monasteries nearby the town.
I spent the New Year’s eve in Tianshui, three hours by minibus from Luomen. but at midnight it seemed very few people knew about the new year.
5h by trains and I reached the tip of the silk way: Xian. Frankly I didn’t get mad for the terracotta army here in Xian, maybe due to the coldness or maybe just because of my too big expectations.
While something quite funny happened afterwards in the snowy Taiyuan: I was visiting the pagodas when some Chinese guys, geared with their photographic outfit, insisted for some pictures of us and of course I agreed. I almost forgot about them in the next two days while visiting the cold Pingyao, but coming back on the train, a group of youths run to us flapping a newspaper: a picture of us greeting to the camera with the pagoda in the background was stamped on it (see it!!)
In Beijing unfortunately I was short of time for exploring the city but I didn’t miss the trip to the Great Wall: I promised you, it has been really “great”!!!
By the way, would you guess how you can descend from the mountains of the Great Wall?
By rollercoster obviously!!

Alby