Left work around 3.45. It was heavily raining in shanghai. Stuck my jacket over my head and made quick haste to the metro station to Shanghai railway to meet the others. Jim was running late. So we planned to meet him at the ticket check, he didn't back much nor bring enough clothes. Ben packed more but still, neither brought winter clothes. Stereotypical lads, 刻板印象的男孩leaving things a bit too last minute and not preparing well enough. Carmen and I in the other hand had a bit of everything. Winter clothes, medicines, toiletries, hat gloves scarfs, everything. Jim didn't bring a towel, coat, comb. Ben no coat but more layers. We got utterly soaked. The station was packed but we got the tickets easy enough. Queuing outside was grim though: #落汤鸡。 but we got on and got seated ok, setting off 5.50 for xuzhou 徐州 to change for lanzhou 兰州 Ben, the sly dog, tried to pass of baijiu in oj as vodka and orange, you can't hide that taste! So we renamed it O酒. Arriving we waited in a windy cold rain for our taxi. Both city and the station was packed with traffic 堵车 so we persuaded the driver to go outside in a loop to avoid traffic and get to the station in time, we made it, but it was tight. Go straight to take out our tickets, some old countryman 土鳖 was rude and looked at us called us 美国落汤鸡 American drowned rats, so I immediately replied not american - don't slag people they might understand you. The drunk my apologized walking off embarrassed.
We got on to the most packed out train I've ever seen in my life! We were all on the same car but jim unfortunately was a different seat but we asked to swap. There were people standing EVERYWHERE setting off around 11.50pm it was a long slow train to Lanzhou, arriving 8.30pm the next night. We started drinking wine haha. The guys 'enjoying' the O酒 before trying to sleep - bit of a fail. But we tried. Thankfully a load of people got off at Luoyang 洛阳 so we were able to separate out, finding empty seats and napping. We went to the food car, thankfully not many people ate sunflower seeds, but when more got on at 西安 we got stuck near a rude country child you just stared for ages and had a really really annoying accent and wouldn't shut up, he grandfather kept giving her a really weird 'hand massage' while she stared, basically open mouthed not looking away. We watched a great movie - true story based on wwII based in holland, a German made movie called Black leather book/ black book it was amazing! Upon arriving the hostel owner 老板娘 came and met us, we were staying close. Quick showers (it flooded on use) then met Carmen's friend Yi who studies in Lanzhou and went to the night street market FULL OF FOOD! Really long long street and lots and lots of Muslim choices. Lamb especially. There was a quite a disturbing chilli stew option with several lamb heads stewing in it - veggie or not, I'd pass on that. We got a set at a place we're Yi got a small 麻辣烫 so we could sit there. We all got dishes and headed back. I got Lanzhou speciality noodles with a spicy satay sauce cucumber, toufu and tidy skin noodles. We all tried a bit of each other's. carmen was eating a spinach noodle dish, Ben had a similar with a spicy Chinese pitta, had a bit of the spicy hot pot too and tried some of the veg from one of Jim's many dishes, it was all very tasty and cheap! We eat to bursting, Yi and her friends then got us some of the speciality drink desserts to try, a plum juice, a sweet grain drink, I particularly liked the local speciality 醪糟 milk with egg, nuts and raisins, sugar and rice. It was delicious, I drank/eat 2 we rolled away to look at the famous bridge, but unfortunately at 12.30 the lights were all off. We headed back for a few hours sleep before getting our next train to 嘉峪关 the guys in sleeper and us in hard seat at 4.50am
嘉峪关 JIAYUGUAN
Arriving in the afternoon it was cold! The train ride was rough, the guys swapped with us around 11 so we got a bit of a sleep in their beds. We had travelled through the mountains, snow topped mountains! And passed countryside full of graves 坟墓 the locals were laughing at Ben in his shorts. Got a taxi to the hotel changing to much needed warm layers. It's a cheap local area we are staying in, fruit market outside and lots of Muslim like restaurants and bread stalls. It's very cheap, grapes ¥1, breads 2¥ for 3 rolls. We grabbed a tent from the owners but with no blankets we decided to change our night of stay and instead leave the next day to zhangye 张掖 we got a taxi deal and heading to the Great Wall, going first to the first ever fortress, upon seeing enemies and using alighted beacons along the wall, they could get the message to Peking within 4-6 hours! There was a gorge/river along side part of the wall, the majority eroded we went underground to the museum exhibit telling us all about it, along the outside of the wall on the enemies side was a safety ditch, filled with fine sand, iron nails etc. death for those who fell.
From here we went to the wall, limping wig it, few around! Amazing! So unlike what those exploring the Beijing great wall at the same time (packed like sardines) it was beautiful, especially with the sun starting to slowly set. From here we went to the next fortress which had a sort of park area too, here you could even ride camels, it was refurbished giving you an idea of what it really would have been like. We stayed until dark before going back to the hotel and getting much needed hot showers, it was freezing! Takeaway was ordered, too cold to leave the room! Wine and beers drank a chilled relaxing night - one has to glaring Great Wall wine having gone to the Great Wall no? Ben took one bed and we pushed the other 2 together. Plenty of blankets slept til after 9, got some pics with the laoban grabbed some snacks and headed to the train station to zhangye 张掖
We we arrived around 2 it was roasting! A huge contrast from only slightly more northern jiayuguan. We changed and left stuff in a cheap hotel beside the train station (5 per bag) and agreed a car price to take us to the famous geo park of the area - 260 to take us to 冰沟 binggou and 丹霞 the rainbow mountain national park. Thankfully there wasn't too many cars except near the entrance for danxia we went a bit further to binggou national geo park. A bit windy but few people, we got the car ride ticket and entrance ticket 成人40¥+20）
we got off at the first stop and went for a stroll, seeing the two 'camel' rock formations 骆驼🐫 before getting on another small car and going to the next bit, climbing high up enjoying spectacular non crowded sites. We stayed till about 5.30 before heading to the west entrance of danxia, tickets for this are more expensive but car is included.
We got off at the last stop (last entrance 6pm) it was ridiculously crowded! Thankfully the last stop didn't have many there, one can go on a ballon ride or helicopter ride over the area. We got there just as the sun was starting to set, the views on the bus were wonderful, the rocks full of white brown orange and yellow hues we strolled around briefly then got On the last bus with the sun having set and it getting colder.
Our driver then took us to the city centre to the food area, unfortunately it was a bit grubby, the food not appetizing at all, small restaurants too, we used the public toilet (no doors/half wall/no flush/tunnel hole) it was grim beyond words and still had to pay ¥1! But when you got to go....
We ended up going to a nearby restaurant in a shopping mall and sharing a couple dishes, spicy lamb, hot sizzling spiced cauliflower and a tomato creamy pepper and aubergine dish, it paid about 20-30 each, it was good. We then headed back to the hotel grabbed our luggage and got our sleeper train to dunhuang, hard sleeper, very thick blankets, though unfortunately all in different areas! A decent sleep but we arrived around 5 to pitch black, the station far from the city centre. Tired dogs. Ben needed a toilet, nothing was open, we stopped in the city centre beside the famous statue and entered a boutique hotel, Ben paid for a room for 3 hours, we got much needed showers and passed out on a huge bed, falling asleep to a cookery program based on nothern ireland of all places, seeing the giants causeway 巨人之路, st George's market and some of our special dishes/sites and how to cook some fish and champ
MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL
MOON CAKE FESTIVAL
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/mid-autumn-festival-east-asia-harvest-moon-celebrate-when-is-it-mooncakes-lanterns-a8552276.html
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/mid-autumn.htm
They chased us out around 10.30 but we got to store our luggage, charged phones and had wifi use, could have slept longer though. We strolled around getting local breakfast (quite Muslim still 清真🕌️）and checking out the market. As it was during the day it was fully open but they have a massive fruit/dried fruit/seeds sections 水果/干货 and souvenirs not to mention hot snacks and restaurants where u can try the local speciality of donkey meat with yellow noodles 驴肉黄面 there was a mosque nearby 清真寺 but it was being refurbished. Yi finally arrived and met us at the hotel were we went back to the market for lunch, before getting our stuff together and getting the local bus [¥1] to the crescent lake/singing dunes 月牙泉/鸣沙山. Was pissed to discover they wouldn’t accept international student cards (had to pay full price!) and they didn’t want to give the discount to Carmen either as her card was short course until January. She kicked up a fuss stating she’d been studying here already a year - did they want to check her passport visas - and so they relented. It was busy enough: hot too. We were in the gobi desert after all: amazing to see the sudden mass risings of the huge dunes - literal sand mountains! We spotted camels. Hordes of them. Grouped in lines with riders atop. Ben bought a full on Sahara desert style hat with face cover and neck cover haha. Yu and I had previously ridden camels so we decided to pass on the camel ride while the others went to line up (I know it’s tender on the bum) the camels here are so big in height and width to the ones I rode in tangier. I don’t know if that’s because they are looked after better or because they are from another continent (eg thai elephants are smaller) Yu and I took off through the dunes in the same direction as the lines of camels being led by several locals. They were coming in going. Walking quicker than us slipping unsteadily in the sand (we were later given the tip of walking in our socks!) we had to move aside to let them walk, getting trapped a couple times on either side by huge lines of camels with riders atop. We were later informed this was just a camel Ride route and not in the desired direction of the lake/oasis we wished to go to so we started to walk back. Spotting the others riding along before stopping ourselves for some pics besides resting camels. We headed back down finding a nearby resting spot to wear the others would be heading back to. We were sweaty not only with the heat but with the dune walking - it’s not easy at all! Once we met with the others we headed together the crescent lake (and oasis) a pagoda had been built amidst it, the water area protected from entry with a fence, it was busy but we found a quiet spot and relaxed together in the shade and sun, chatting away. Jim and I decided to climb up the dunes (some people rent boards to slide down) the others headed back to grab a beer and chill in an outside Chinese hipster style bar/cafe. Dune climbing is HARD. Jim wanted to stop and rest but I knew stopping and starting would be too difficult I felt like I was doing an unsteady vertical wobble waddle climb up. We found a half buried ladder that others we already climbing along, enabling you to grip with your feet and climb up. People had dropped likes flies on the way up. Just sitting and admitting defeat, we continued to the top were a medium sized crowd had reached, we found a space and gazed at the mysterious unending masses of continuing sand dunes raising in the distance. Only a few people seemed to be venturing on - I would have if we had more time - into the vast unknown. The thought alone was so alluringly mysterious and wonderous, the unknown continuing vastness. It was compelling beautiful. The journey back was much easier and fun. I took off my shoes and did sliding BASE jump skids downwards. I had been dismayed to discover my zoom was not longer working (I dropped it briefly earlier in the sand) but I was able to use it still in one of the settings (weird and annoying)
People had come with kids and were going for a ride, Ben and I got camel selfies haha. The quad ride queue had formed. When it had started to shorten me, Carmen and Yu joined it. By the time it was our go, the host ‘dj’ was announcing the beginnings of dinner. Fires had been made in huge grills and hot pot stoves were being prepared, from the first call for the dinner preparations (15 per table) the Chinese swarmed down like locusts, in fear of no food? But it hadn’t even begun haha. It was dark by the time it was Yu and Carmen’s turn. Jim joined me: me going in the middle behind the driver him behind me. A short ride it was exhilarating. Speeding up and down the small dune like ramps, almost flying through the air. A steady grasp was needed to avoid falling off the bumpy ride. Short sweet I came off adrenaline pumping to a table packed with young pretty chinese girls and a very chuffed Ben beside them all, they all could speak English! Our dj host was brilliant, a local guy dressed in traditional clothing in introduced the night and encouraged us to eat well and drink lots. Playing some decent tunes he even did a traditional song and dance. He hotpots were served out slowly along with the dishes which we could replenish at the main table if necessary, and add our own sauces to taste. He took a shine to me and ended up getting me up on stage to introduce myself and then bloody sing and start ktv haha. I couldn’t remember the name of Eminem’s ‘loose yourself’ and couldn’t search via his name so I did a woeful beautiful by Christina Aguilera. He also sang a love song and we acted up to it him trying to get a kiss, jim Gayly told me 我吃醋了.... others got up for the ktv the Chinese girls are our table jumped on the hot pot when it arrived like they had never seen food before in their lives...haha much food and drink was consumed, as it was also 中秋节🎑we were also given moon cakes - it’s officially called mid autumn festival but I call it moon cake festival haha. https://www.finedininglovers.com/recipes/dessert/chinese-food-mooncake-recipe/
https://www.inkstonenews.com/food/all-you-need-know-about-mooncakes-mid-autumn-festival-tradition/article/2165487
A guy from the south sang a song in Cantonese and a guy from Wenzhou along with the dj had a drinking competition, the dj could open a beer in a split second, removing the whole top of it like a can opener then downing it 罐头起子 impressive but bad for the teeth I’m sure. Baijiu shots were taken, the tables were cleared and there was dancing, (I ended up dancing on a table with jim) and then the fire was later lit a huge circle seemed to form and me Ben and jim ended up having some sort of dance off in the centre haha. The tents were finally given out, basically pop up tents and with thick quilts. I was quite toasty in my layers in the end. Woke up around the sunrise - a bit worse for wear. And amazing experience and sight that not many have the opportunity to have. We got into a packed out bus around 8, I tried on bens desert hat like a loon. Bit drunk still haha. We ended up renting a room again for a couple hours. 2 beds we all squeezed into and showered bringing the majority of the desert in our shoes and leaving it in the bathroom haha.
10/5 敦煌 Dunhuang
So we had a bit of a chill day. after the messy night and early morning, again going to the hotel for a couple hours for showers n a needed nap haha
Much planning jim Carmen and I decided we would go to qinghai lake in Qinghai province then to xiahe to see Labrang monastery. The easiest way to do this was to get a bus to jiayuguan then a train to qinghai capital xining 西宁 which would only take about 12 hours. Yi would go with us and then get the hour/2 hr train to Lanzhou. Ben was flying to Xian around 11. Our bus arrived early we got into JYG around 12 everywhere near the station was booked out so we napped in the lobby of a hotel before getting our train to xining at 5, arriving around 9. The views on the train were spectacular, high rising snow capped mountains in contrast to low grasslands!
donkey meat yellow noodles
QINGHAI 青海
friday 6th October 2017
tell they aren't standard chinese, and more muslim and sort of foreign as they have big eye, maybe slightly darker skin, still kind of chinese looking but very different, the women cover their heads and men have their hats and often spout beards (least it seems they look very different in these provinces anyway) there was a huge fancy hotel right beside the station, (we had tried to organize a lift for tonight or tomorrow to the next place and today but way too expensive so we just got the next bus tickets available to the lake) the hotel was beautiful, and so nice, we freshened up and could even store our stuff for free! the area of the station itself was quite new and modern so somewhere so far and not a developed region, it even had a metro line!
the bus route was about 2 hours long and one of the most beautiful journeys of my life, worth it!
the sun was shining in, high and low flat grasslands and some mountain s surrounded us, another world, bright blue skies, the 草原 had sheep, horses and even HAIRY YAKS! i felt i was in tibet or somewhere else, definitely not still in china. not an ice of shanghais cosmopolitanism anywhere. the odd field was flag lined, or had ethnic group flag structures up, it was all so vast and stunning and beautifully simple.
the writing on the shops stores even changed! instead
again along beautiful scenery filled road with landscapes of yaks and horses, often darning traditionally decorated styled saddles and harnesses.
though unfortunately i spotted, at the side of the road randomly a dead horse, inwards exposed.....
at the last minute (arriving back to the station around 6) we bought standing tickets on the slow train to Kunming, (2-3 hours, fast is one hour) Yi was unablee to meet us, and Jim went to see if he could get the tickets for tomorrow and other info, he got some info but not the tickets, we would have to get them tomorrow as it was closed
we got some food nearby and slept, Jim getting up the next day earlier to get our tickets at 6
SATURDAY 7TH OCTOBER
xiahe, Labrang monastery
jim got up at 6 and was able to get tickets for 7.30. it was weird in the bus, the city quite empty, so unlike night time, but it was still quite early
our bus couldn't fully go to xiahe, instead it dropped us off randomly at another destination, a sort of mid road checkpoint, there seemed to actually be a couple other lost looking foreigners with us (koreans?)so i guess we were on the right track 。
we got on a small old mini bus dodgy and full of holes in the fusty old hard thin cotton seats，
a strange sort of beggar guy got on, he even began smoking in the car, would be surprised if a chicken had been brought on haha
many chinese pilgrims were walking round it or the fortune spinners in a clockwise direction as the buddhist teachings go, spinning the fort wheels as they went.
its such another world, lazing beside all this was a big long haired goat, resting in the sun. like the countryside!
eventually went found the entrance, you need to go to the car park to the left you need to enter and pay for and go in groups, there were english guides but to wait for the next would be longer and since carmen and I know chinese we just went with the chinese group.
the interior had a variety of traditional local objects on display and a video on loop playing showing the monks and their different festivals on which mainly take place in the beautiful nearby grasslands
here we were taken under the wing of a monk who lead us around the different main temples. He was worried and confused when he saw us that we may not understand, hard yes, but jim was also there to retell in more simplified ways too, plus when you see something its a bit easier too.
he explained the different studies and ages and length of time needed for these studies, the different buddha statues and their brief history and significance
the interiors were all very dark dim and musty, a real atmosphere to everything, a feeling of religious respect and worship hung heavily in the air.
so peaceful calm a true different world behind these walls compared the the outside and the local surroundings.
