Xinjiang - Part 5
As I was saying in my last entry, we were going to be visited 2 sites in Kuqa (库车). Our 1st stop was the Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves. It had a total of 330 caves with only ONE Buddha and we did not even get to see THAT Buddha in that Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves. In fact, only 8 caves were opened to the public, so we only saw 8 of them, and most of them are in pretty bad shape due to neglience, destroyed by Islamic fanatics, destroyed by local villagers for the gold-plated painting or paints as fertilizer, or stolen by german archeologist. In fact the lower caves, which were built around the 3rd to 5th century had already collapsed. It was quite a sad thing. A culture and history lost forever.
In fact this driver was quite good. He noticed that I had a running nose, so he did not turn on the aircon the entire journey. Driving with the windows winded down was pretty common in Xinjiang. However, the road condition was not good enough for such it. Along the way to the 2nd site, Tianshan Mysterious Grand Gorge (天山神密大峽谷), it was an extremely dusty road. There were heavy construction going on, building another expressway.
We had our lunch at the foot of Tianshan Mysterious Grand Gorge (天山神密大峽谷). Its a little overpriced but still acceptable. We only had an hour and a half, at most, since we need to rush back to Kuqa (库车) to catch our sleeper bus to Turpan (吐鲁番). We walked as quickly as we could, kepting looking at the watch to see how much time we were left with before we had to descend down the mountain. It was a uphill walk, and at times we had to scale some rocks, squeezed between narrow grooves, climb some steel ladders and stairs. The good thing was the return trip was a downhill rush, so needing only 1/3 of the time taken to way up. We were about to give up till we came across this couple that told us that the end was just ahead. So we decided to take a few more minutes to continue, deciding to do very very brisk walk with some short run on the way down. I'm not sure if that was the original endpoint since it looked to me that there should be more passage upwards but due to a huge rock that collapsed down blocking the way. There was the signboard that tells all visitor that all were to stop at this point. At least I could say I had completed my walked through the Tianshan Mysterious Grand Gorge (天山神密大峽谷). With that, we started our mad dash downwards.
The driver decided to go a shortcut, which was about 20km shorter than the original route taken. The road travelled along the base of the mountain, and along the river. The road condition was poorer but much less dustier. We came to a point where we could see cars queuing. The 1st time that came across our mind was that it better not be jammed since we would be missing our sleeper bus to Turpan (吐鲁番). Luckily, it was only a short wait, since there were some road blasting somewhere further up on the mountain. The road condition was indeed bad. There were some very big humps and holes along the route. The driver had to drive very slowly just in case if the car got stucked. At some point, we even had to get out of the car to clear the holes.
We seems to be slightly ahead of time, so we stopped by a 3rd unplanned site, Subash Buddhist Temple Ruins. It was in very bad shape too. Hardly recognised it to be of any temple or monastry. In fact those in Angkor Wat were in much better condition. And with that we reached at the bus station in time to catch our sleeper bus to our final destination in Xinjiang. And that pretty much ended our ninth day adventure.
Our tenth day adventure started at the wee hours of the night. We reached Tuokexun (托克逊) at 4am in the morning. We were woken up by the driver, again, and got out of the bus in the middle of nowhere. Took a cab from the bus stop to the bus station in Tuokexun (托克逊). We dun felt like paying a night room for just a few hours of sleep. Just when we were thinking of taking a break by having a drink at the nearby restaurant, we were approached by a guy who were gathering people going down to Turpan (吐鲁番). It was 10Y per person. No argument there and it was cheap compared to all the prices we had been paying for transportation. After an hour and a half of delay, the minibus was finally fully loaded and about to head off when someone from the local Petrol Squad stopped him. After some begging and persuasion, the lady still refused to let him ferry us to Turpan (吐鲁番) due his bus load of I had no idea what. Look to me to be some huge sacks of potatoes or carrots or onions and an empty LPG container!! In the end, he ferried us back to the bus station and swapped us to another minibus. After delayed again, we were moved from the 2nd minibus to the 3rd minibus! We finally moved off from the bus station at 0830hrs, as stated on the official bus ticket.
About half hour later, we arrived at Turpan (吐鲁番). We gave the driver a call and he picked us up 5mins later. Got him to send us to a 2-star hotel. As usual, did our human waste dumping and hot shower before planning where to go. The driver recommended by Ho Sen was busy for the day. He got his younger brother to drive us around. Quite a handsome fellow, I must say. Like those taiwan teary Chongyao drama male lead, with a tint of foreign blood.
Since we had booked his car for the entire day, we tried all the sights within the day. At the same time, we tried to get the elder brother to buy the train tickets to JiaYuGua (嘉峪关) for us. Since we had to get the tickets from an agency, there was a 50Y commissions per damn tickets. What to do, the train station was 54km from the city.
On the way to our 1st sight, we drove past the Grape Valley (葡萄沟) entrance which so definitely was charging an entrance fee. Our driver told us that we woúld be coming back to the valley later, and going through another entrance which was free! Sound good to us.
We started with GaoCheng ancient city (高昌故城). A city established more than 2000 years ago but had fallen into disused over the centuries. As with that Subash Buddhist Temple Ruins that we seen in Kuqa (库车), it was in a pretty bad state. A sign stating an unknown shape of a building to be a buddhist monastery. Either 95% of the building had corroded with time or people back then in the region some 2000 years ago were petite in size. We got persuaded into taking the donkey cart. We were told by our driver that its was fairly huge and walking to the end is some 2km-3km. So we took a ride to the end and came back some 30mins later. It dun feel that far and what was that distance comparing to what we had been walking. Sigh. Tourist stupidity.
Next on the list was Flaming Mountains (火炎山). There happened to have 2 entrances to it. The 1st had to pay the entrance fee. We drove past that and we could see several tour buses in the carpark. The latter entrance was free though the view was a little less grand, or rather it was a smaller part of it. We were fine with that. There was no one around, so we had the whole mountain for ourselves.
After that we had over to Bezklik Thousand Buddha caves (柏孜克里千佛洞). Again only a few caves were opened and they were mostly cleared out. We decided to hop over just for some quick photo shoot without going in. Seemed like the area where I wanted to snap could only be taken after going in. So we turned back to our next sight. Apparently they were building an amusement park or something near the caves, containing characters from the novel, Journey to the West.
We got to Tuyoq after the Bezklik Thousand Buddha caves (柏孜克里千佛洞). It had a four sections in it. Its own grand canyon, Uygur ancient folk settlement, Hojamu Tomb and Thousand Buddha caves! I was not expecting that many things at this sight. As we were walking through the settlement, we came across a group of people entering a house. So we followed them in and everyone started to take out their cameras and snapped away. Half way through, an old lady appeared out of nowhere and smile at us. She asked for some money for photographing her place.
We then continued down the path looking for theThousand Buddha caves. Not sure how many caves were here but we saw four. We had to climb some couple hundreds of metres upwards before reaching the caves. As usual, most of the wall paintings had been gone with the centuries. On the way out, we thought we spotted the grand canyon but we did trekked it. We wanted to keep to our time schedule. We noticed some children playing by the path. One of them noticed us taking photo of them and started to pose for us. In fact they started fighting among themselves to be photographed. At the end of it, they asked me for moolah! Argh! I never seemed to learn my lessons! Took out a few 1Y notes to give some of them.
We headed for the Grape Valley (葡萄沟) shortly after. We did not go through any gantry. The route was probably used by the locals. We just drove through some of the grape vineyard without stopping. It was some 15mins later that we stopped by a store inside the valley. Its a place with exorbitant prices for anything.
After lunch, we headed for our final sight, Ermin Minaret (苏公塔). On the way there, we detoured a little to pick up the train ticket from the elder brother. After paying him and moving off, I noticed the timing on the ticket to be a little too early. Once again, we were screwed, arriving at JiaYuGua (嘉峪关) at 0314hrs. Damnit. Extra night of lodging for nothing. I could not possibly barked at the elder brother for getting tickets with too early a departure time. Ermin Minaret (苏公塔) was a kind of memorial place for a local great man. We climbed up and down, up and down and we left. With that we ended our standard local sightseeing and headed back to the hotel. We made arrangement with the driver to fetch us to the train station tomorrow. Its more expensive than the minibus but saved us the hassle of taking a cab to the bus station and looked for the bus to the station for an unknown number of hours. Walking around with 20kg on your back was not enticing enough.
After an hour rest in the hotel, we started our walked around the city. We found the local bazaar and bashed through it, taking note of any local products to buy back. We just keep roaming the streets until night fall before heading to the night market for dinner. All the internet cafes we came across seemed to be closed for the day. I wondered if it was internet resting day. I knocked out pretty early hence ending our tenth day.
We woked with a startled on the eleventh day. Wanted to wake up earlier to do our last shopping in Xinjiang before heading for lunch, then looked for internet cafe to kill some time before heading to the train station. Ended up waking at close to noon. That left us with 3 hours. Headed back to the bazaar to get whatever we needed, then to a restaurant for a sumptuous lunch. The restaurant was not even ready for business. In the end, spent an hour and a half having our lunch, then walked back to the hotel to get ready for departure. The driver was late and it was not him who arrived but his friend. Apparently his wife was in hospital, either giving birth or something regarding him, his wife and baby. I could not seem to get a decent chinese response back from the friend.
Since we had booked his car for the entire day, we tried all the sights within the day. At the same time, we tried to get the elder brother to buy the train tickets to JiaYuGua (嘉峪关) for us. Since we had to get the tickets from an agency, there was a 50Y commissions per damn tickets. What to do, the train station was 54km from the city.
On the way to our 1st sight, we drove past the Grape Valley (葡萄沟) entrance which so definitely was charging an entrance fee. Our driver told us that we woúld be coming back to the valley later, and going through another entrance which was free! Sound good to us.
We started with GaoCheng ancient city (高昌故城). A city established more than 2000 years ago but had fallen into disused over the centuries. As with that Subash Buddhist Temple Ruins that we seen in Kuqa (库车), it was in a pretty bad state. A sign stating an unknown shape of a building to be a buddhist monastery. Either 95% of the building had corroded with time or people back then in the region some 2000 years ago were petite in size. We got persuaded into taking the donkey cart. We were told by our driver that its was fairly huge and walking to the end is some 2km-3km. So we took a ride to the end and came back some 30mins later. It dun feel that far and what was that distance comparing to what we had been walking. Sigh. Tourist stupidity.
Next on the list was Flaming Mountains (火炎山). There happened to have 2 entrances to it. The 1st had to pay the entrance fee. We drove past that and we could see several tour buses in the carpark. The latter entrance was free though the view was a little less grand, or rather it was a smaller part of it. We were fine with that. There was no one around, so we had the whole mountain for ourselves.
After that we had over to Bezklik Thousand Buddha caves (柏孜克里千佛洞). Again only a few caves were opened and they were mostly cleared out. We decided to hop over just for some quick photo shoot without going in. Seemed like the area where I wanted to snap could only be taken after going in. So we turned back to our next sight. Apparently they were building an amusement park or something near the caves, containing characters from the novel, Journey to the West.
We got to Tuyoq after the Bezklik Thousand Buddha caves (柏孜克里千佛洞). It had a four sections in it. Its own grand canyon, Uygur ancient folk settlement, Hojamu Tomb and Thousand Buddha caves! I was not expecting that many things at this sight. As we were walking through the settlement, we came across a group of people entering a house. So we followed them in and everyone started to take out their cameras and snapped away. Half way through, an old lady appeared out of nowhere and smile at us. She asked for some money for photographing her place.
We then continued down the path looking for theThousand Buddha caves. Not sure how many caves were here but we saw four. We had to climb some couple hundreds of metres upwards before reaching the caves. As usual, most of the wall paintings had been gone with the centuries. On the way out, we thought we spotted the grand canyon but we did trekked it. We wanted to keep to our time schedule. We noticed some children playing by the path. One of them noticed us taking photo of them and started to pose for us. In fact they started fighting among themselves to be photographed. At the end of it, they asked me for moolah! Argh! I never seemed to learn my lessons! Took out a few 1Y notes to give some of them.
We headed for the Grape Valley (葡萄沟) shortly after. We did not go through any gantry. The route was probably used by the locals. We just drove through some of the grape vineyard without stopping. It was some 15mins later that we stopped by a store inside the valley. Its a place with exorbitant prices for anything.
After lunch, we headed for our final sight, Ermin Minaret (苏公塔). On the way there, we detoured a little to pick up the train ticket from the elder brother. After paying him and moving off, I noticed the timing on the ticket to be a little too early. Once again, we were screwed, arriving at JiaYuGua (嘉峪关) at 0314hrs. Damnit. Extra night of lodging for nothing. I could not possibly barked at the elder brother for getting tickets with too early a departure time. Ermin Minaret (苏公塔) was a kind of memorial place for a local great man. We climbed up and down, up and down and we left. With that we ended our standard local sightseeing and headed back to the hotel. We made arrangement with the driver to fetch us to the train station tomorrow. Its more expensive than the minibus but saved us the hassle of taking a cab to the bus station and looked for the bus to the station for an unknown number of hours. Walking around with 20kg on your back was not enticing enough.
After an hour rest in the hotel, we started our walked around the city. We found the local bazaar and bashed through it, taking note of any local products to buy back. We just keep roaming the streets until night fall before heading to the night market for dinner. All the internet cafes we came across seemed to be closed for the day. I wondered if it was internet resting day. I knocked out pretty early hence ending our tenth day.
We woked with a startled on the eleventh day. Wanted to wake up earlier to do our last shopping in Xinjiang before heading for lunch, then looked for internet cafe to kill some time before heading to the train station. Ended up waking at close to noon. That left us with 3 hours. Headed back to the bazaar to get whatever we needed, then to a restaurant for a sumptuous lunch. The restaurant was not even ready for business. In the end, spent an hour and a half having our lunch, then walked back to the hotel to get ready for departure. The driver was late and it was not him who arrived but his friend. Apparently his wife was in hospital, either giving birth or something regarding him, his wife and baby. I could not seem to get a decent chinese response back from the friend.
The train was pretty spacious in fact. Quite liked it! The most expensive seat on the train would be the soft lower berth but we got the hard lower berth, which was just as good. So we remind ourselves to make sure that we get the same hard lower berth for our train ride from Dunhuang (敦煌) to Lanzhou (兰州), before switch over to Xining to meet that friend who helped me. And with that would be my last few hours in Xinjiang. The only thing I would be hating was getting off the train at 0314hrs.
Damn.
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