Hampi, Day 9 of trip

Did our 6th overnight train ride, this time to Hampi, which is between Bangalore and Pune. Hampi is known for its ruins, and every year there is a pilgrimage to the nearby river, which we were lucky enough to get to see.

One of the main attractions were supposed to be these ‘singing columns’ that when you hit them played whatever your heart desired. After walking around in pursuit of these for a while we finally were pointed in the direction that they supposedly were, only to find out that it was kind of bull. Some people were saying they could hear musical noises coming from them, but to me it just sounded like the noise every stone column makes when you knock on it.




The main temple complex was really cool, and definitely looked angkorian / Mayan. We spent most of our time posing for photos with the countless people who mobbed us to be in their pictures – it was almost like a photo shoot.



After watching the pilgrims bathing for a while we went to a restaurant called mango tree and stuffed our faces again, which seems to be the theme of this trip to India.






The restaurant was cool because it was on the river and they had pictures of what it looks like in the rainy season when the water level rises about 40 feet it looks like, its pretty hard to believe there is that much of a difference just from rain.

The food was SOO..good.. made snoop-anoop go crazy

Other pictures from Hampi:

Jaipur, Day 5 of trip

Arrived in Jaipur for the sunrise, which seems to be a trend on this trip, and checked into a hotel for a few extra hours of much needed sleep. Once we had rejoined the world of the living we went out to see the city. Steffen had done a slow-motion-fall down the stairs the night before and now had an identical bandage on his big toe. I won’t even try to describe what a slow motion fall is, but it has been re-enacted numerous times on the trip now, basically anytime there is a soft surface for Steffen to fall on and re-enact it by popular demand, its a real crowd pleaser.

Had WONDERFUL samosas and Chai for breakfast, only 5 rupee each, (for perspective, 50 rupees is about 1 dollar). First we hit up the palace, which our guide told us not to go to because it was too expensive – typical rickshaw drive code for: let me take you somewhere else that will give me commission, but we went anyway and it was pretty spectacular. The whole city is pink by regulation, so its pretty sweet. The current Raja still lives there with his family, but to tour this part of the building it is 2,500 rupees, or about 50 dollars, US so we decided to pass. There is one very interesting courtyard with four different doors representing the four different seasons, where many Bollywood movies have been filmed.





Afterwards we went to another building we could see from the palace, which was the Hawa-Mahil, or palace of the wind. This was really cool and gave incredible views out over the city. The original city was planned into 9 different blocks, but today it has spilled far beyond the original plan.


We went for lunch at a normal street restaurant and after headed up to the fort for sunset, singing Beijing Hunangning ni the whole way up. By this point our rickshaw driver was getting very upset that we were going nowhere that he would get commission.


The fort was also incredible and you could wander around at will, which was very cool. There were monkeys everywhere and we also had a large group of boys acting like monkeys fighting for the opportunity to pose in pictures with us. We stayed for the sunset and then got in our rickshaw and went back to the city to get oil massages, which were a ‘different’ experience, especially for Steffen, who I think felt quite violated.

Jaisalmer, Day 4 of trip

We made the unfortunate decision to wake up for the sunrise, but ended up sleeping through the snooze for an hour and missing it, an incredible feat since the snooze went off every 5 minutes. On the way up to explore the fort we were intercepted by the shopkeeper we had met the day before and allowed ourselves to be ushered into his store for some Chai. 4 hours later and 300 dollars poorer we left the shop after buying a large amount of the sparkly patchwork wall hangings that typify Rajasthan. During the buying process we were treated to a samosa breakfast, dress up as maharanis, and of course numerous cups of Chai.

After we couldn’t spend anything more without going bankrupt on the spot we left and went to do a tour of the palace, which was incredible. Everyone thinks romanticizes the castles in Europe, but India is where its at, those maharajas and maharanis had it right. In contrast to the heavy cold castles of Europe, these palaces were light, airy and covered in delicate carvings and comforts. Audio guides were free so we got to learn something about the rooms we were seeing as well which was cool since usually I scoff at audio guised as being SO touristy and beneath me, I guess that’s stupid, they are highly informative.

After doing a whirlwind tour of the palace we adjourned for lunch to a wonderful spot perched on the battlements with a spectacular view of the city. It would not have been for the fain of hear because the only thing between your table and a sheer sixty-four drop was a wall of about 2 feet.
We unfortunately had to move on again, this time to Jaipur, but I could have easily spent another two weeks in Jaislmur alone the place was that spectacular.

On the train out we sat by the doors for a while and watched the desert go by, which was cool because on European or US trains you would never be allowed to open the doors and dangle your feel out while the train was moving. Everyone waved to us as we were going past which was very fun. India is the most smiley / happy/ wavy people on earth. In china people stare at you but if you stare back and wave they just give you a grunt or a blank stare, whereas in India as soon as you catch them staring at you they break into a huge grin and wave.

Steffen and I also got to jump on to a moving train: we were at the station and went to get dinner form a vendor, but toot too long so the train started leaving and we had to jump on at random, me holding a bowl of curry in each hand, so it was slightly impossible, especially since after getting on he train Steffen accidentally slammed a compartment door on my head. Despite this, most of the curry made it back to our compartment and into our mouths, with only a small bit ending up on my skirt.

Line for: Supervisor, Parliament, Blind, Cancer Patient, Handicapped, Freedom Fighter, Foreign Tourist and Senior Citizen.

Kashgar Sunday Market to LanZhou Days 6-8

Day 6: Kashgar Sunday Market / get food poisoning

Day 7: Train to Turpan / feel like shit

Day 8: Train to Lanzhou / feel like shit

Woke up on sunday and was very excited to go to the livestock market, since that was what got me interested in Kashgar in the first place - the market was supposed to be one of the largest in the world. Unfortunately I also felt vaguely like shit because whatever I had eaten in Karakul was beginning to take its toll on my digestive system. I dragged myself to the market anyway, and I'm glad I did because the animal market was cool, although I don't know if I would say it was any better than a state fair or something, but there were an abundance of interesting Uigher faces so in that respect it was much cooler than a bunch of fat middle americans.

old Uigher man at the enterance

Entrance to the livestock market; the animals were mostly cows and sheep with a smattering of camels, donkeys and horses.

Old man selling Yak Nui Nai and bagels

This is how we unload sheep from carts.. poor sheep..

spray painting the sheep so that owners can tell whose are whose

After spending some time at the Livestock Market I went to to the "sunday market", with my health condition rapidly deteriorating, although I was still in denial and thought I was just tired. I was only there for about thirty minutes before it became apparent I had a fever and was actually sick. I left but was actually ok with my truncated visit because the market did not live up to my expectations in any way at all - it just seemed like any tourist market in a chinese city, which is the reaction everyone else I talked to had. It definitely did not hold up to the Grand Bazar, and Olie, the british kid who was in my room, said that all of the markets he went to in the Stans were much cooler. As I was crossing the road to hail a cab a little old lady latched onto my arm and used me as a shield against the oncoming traffic which was kind of funny.

I went back to the hotel and spent the next 24 hours extremely uncomfortable because I had given my last painkillers to the sick girl at Karakul so I had nothing to break my fever. Then I got on the train the next day and spent another 24 hours with a horrible fever bumping along from Kashgar to Turpan. My saving grace on the train was a girl who spoke perfect english and who got me hot water from the connecting car and fed me bread when I could eat. She worked at the university in Urumqi teaching english and we had a great discussion about the election (she was for Obama), government participation in China (it does not exist but may get better as people become more educated), and reactions to lesbianism in China: (completely fine in the younger generation, frowned upon by old people).

I had to wait 5 hours in Turpan for the next train to come through and accidentally managed to sit in the middle of a cluster of old Han chinese women, who were exactly like monkeys. They were grabbing things, chattering at the top of their lungs, spewing sunflower seeds from their mouths when they talked, and constantly lifting up their shirts to scratch their armpits - no joke. All of these traits are cumulatively what I hate in chinese people.

When I first got to China none of this bothered me...but the excessive pushing, shouting, talking with mouths full etc. kind of wears on you after a while - if I were to compare the average middle lower class chinese people to an animal it would definitely be to monkeys. This sounds incredibly harsh and sorry to all my chinese, chinese/american friends (none of you belong to the group of chinese people I am talking about anyway), but if you live here for a few months you will see what I mean about the vast majority being monkeys. I digress.

got on another 24 hour train to Lanzhou, and when I got off of that train I was starting to feel a lot better... but it was still 3 days of fever and not eating...brutal... I never want to get food poisoning again... especially since the whole time I was envisioning myself ending up in a shitty Xinjiang hospital from dehydration / whatever else you get from food poisoning.

It snowed on the train!!
Picture of the train to Lanzhou, hard sleeper. The train was so much nicer than the train to and from Kashgar... they actually announced things in english on this one!!

Urumqi, Tian Chi and the Train Ride to Kashi

Day 1: Fly into Urumqi (4 hours) pronounced: ooroomchee

I was slightly disappointed when I got off the plane because Urumqi is just like Lonely Planet says: industrial and dusty with no camels or people in funny hats in sight. XinJiang is one of the most unstable "autonomous" regions in China on account of its overwhelming number of minorities and its short history as a part of China, so the chinese government has been relentlessly pursuing a "Hanification" policy in Urumqi for the past decade, awarding Han chinese money and benefits if they move there. The whole area is home to populations of Kyrgiks, Tajiks, Kazakis, Uighers, all whom drifted over borders during the course of the Silk Road's history.

My trip got off to an auspicious start meeting two Israeli guys at the hostel. One had been living in India for four months, and the other had been backpacking across the Stans by himself for the past four months, so hard core travelers. The former had just received a tiny bag of Israeli coffee from home and with great ceremony and much rhapsodizing about the motherland we enjoyed it, the first cup of coffee in a few months for all of us. It tasted like cloves or nutmeg, probably very similar to Turkish coffee.

Making coffee with much pomp and circumstance

Later I had a wonderful dinner of streetfood: a pomegranate and a sweet potato, and then we went in search of a bar, and in doing so got lost in a construction site. After jumping many fences we found our way out which I think was solely due to their israeli army skills since I contributed very little to the whole escape.

Day 2 Tian Chi:

Woke up (9 am beijing time 7 "local" time) to get the bus to Tian Chi before the chinese tourists showed up with their cameras. Note: all of China is in one time zone (fuck if I know why) but because Urumqi is at least two hours behind Beijing everything is done on either "local time", or "Beijing time" - its very confusing and you have to make sure you know which is being used when people are quoting times or you might show up local time and find out your train went at Beijing time.

Anyway, after lots of attempts to find the bus station, including walking into a restricted zone and having policemen run after me yelling in chinese, I found the right bus, and after some driving made it to Tian Chi (Heaven Lake). It was very pretty, but in true chinese style it was hard to escape the techno music blaring from the gift shop at the head of the lake. Chinese tourists rarely venture 50 meters away from this or the bus, so once I started walking around the lake things became much nicer and chinese free.

Pretty waterfall on the walk down that was deserted because all of the chinese tourists took little buses up and down the hill and were too weak to hike. losers

Tian Chi

Cool little abandoned / overgrown pagoda I found on the top of a hill

I couldn't find a public bus home so I bartered passage on a chinese tour group bus whose passengers were all uber perplexed to see a non chinese climb aboard. The tour guide actually had to announce over the loudspeaker which country I was from so that people would sotp pestering me.

Over the course of my two week trip I got guessed every nationality possible: Israeli, Kazaki, Russian, French, Tajik, and even once Uigher..which is kinda hard to believe. I was only guessed american a few times, much less than other nationalities, but of course, if I opened my mouth it became obvious where I was from.

Ghat is a obscure english word that means the banks of a river.. it is only used in Indian and Pakistani english so you can see how this is confusing...

Awesome signs at Tian Chi: Protect the Environment and be civilized everyday

After Tian Chi I got dinner on the street again. There was so much good food: bread, chestnuts, and they had these really yummy looking omelet things where they guy put some greens in the bottom of what looked like a muffin tin and then poured egg over it to make an omelet - if I liked egg more I would have taken a gander at them. I also bought Pomegranate juice from one of the vendors: they have a press on their cart and squeeze it right before your eyes!!! It was so much better than that Pom bullshit you can get in the US which is mostly sugar with a little bit of food coloring - this was like biting into a pomegranate without having to worry about spitting out the pesky seeds.

After this I was still hungry and smelt chuar in the air, the most wonderful of aromas, but after I followed my nose and found the stand they only had what looked like meat. Not daunted, I went and bought some green beans at a super nearby, which I then tried to make the guy cook for me.. After he realized I was serious about not eating meat he thought the whole thing was a great joke and starting to tell everyone who passed on the street I was vegetarian. Turns out all of the Chuar was not meat, so he made me try two or three other kinds that were fake "meat" but tasted to me slightly dubious. After some oink oinking on my part and picture drawing to ask if it was pig he managed with he help of google translator and paper to draw a decent picture of corn. As I was about to leave the handle of my shitty 50 kuai bag broke and he tried to fix it for me, gashing his hand open in the process on one of the Chuar skewers, so then there was a mad dash for bandaids to mop it up before too much of his DNA went all over my bag. After all of these theatrics he only let me pay him one kuai for everything, including all the food I ate.

The guy who fed me and fixed my bag at great risk of life and limb


Day 3: 23 hour train ride or "meet and greet" to Kashgar

The train was pretty nice: four bunks per compartment, pretty clean, the bathroom was actually pretty awesome for being on a train. Not a single person spoke a word of english, but everyone wanted to talk to me anyway. Judging from their looks, I was some sort of alien which landed in their car on the train and they assumed that extraterrestrial life was smart enough to learn chinese through osmosis if they just kept talking to me long enough. A chinese guy with a really nice camera helped me do cool things on mine and showed me the best places to take pics from on the train. There was also an old Uigher dude who called me his MeiGuo Huar (american flower) the whole time and showed me pictures of his family which he carried around with him in a tattered photo album.

My Uigher friend who called me his MeiGuo Huar


Picture of him when he was a young man

Desert scenery near Kashgar

More scenery from the train

More...

Last one I swear. Mostly it was a lot of desert