As you can probably tell by the title of this blog post China for me was a country of contrasts... Take the border
as an example; with 5 check points- 2 in Kyrgyzstan and 3 in China across an
area of about 160km it was meticulously organised and controlled. The motto
displayed at the immigration desk spoke about efficiency, security and
orderliness and in many ways this is how China is; they have a good motorway
system with efficient toll booths, are taking on the task of rebuilding roads
such as the Karakorum highway which has peaks of up to 7000m, furthermore their
550 km long road through the Taklaman desert, one of the largest bodies of
moving sand in the world, is lined with
plants with well houses which they employ people to look after every 3 to 4km
to ensure the sand doesn't drift onto the road. The security in China was
beyond belief from not being allowed to take my handbag into the supermarket to
every shop having a police vest and helmet with a constant police presence in
the cities and numerous checkpoints along the roads. As a general rule we found China has set ways to do things which
were hard to stray from.
However, scratch below the surface of China and you find a
country with an erratic beating pulse... In all the countries myself and Malc
have travelled to we have never been deafened by so many car horns as by the
crazy drivers here and it took a fair while to become accustomed to the
somewhat angry sounding Chinese conversations which constantly surrounded
around us. Coupled with this is the weird and wonderful things you see for
sale...supermarkets are bursting with strange food from cellophane wrapped
chicken feet to lambs heart! Not to mention the night market that we visited on
our second night in Kashgar where whole roasted sheep were propped on the table
with rosettes around their necks alongside some items which we couldn't even
identify but would hazard a guess were some form of offal. And if you really
want to experience China's craziness you just need to step foot in a public
toilet block.. think communal trophs with a lack of doors!! Needless to say
China kept us on our toes and there was never really a dull moment.
Out of all the nationalities we have encountered on this
Silk Road trip, the Chinese were by far been the most intrigued by us. Malc was
driven nuts by cars on the motorway slowing down to take pictures of the truck
and while it was parked up at hotels it was the backdrop for many a family
photo. Meanwhile us and the rest of our passengers were treated like
celebrities, being pulled into pictures with smiling couples or families, it
was quite a surreal experience really. So in general the people were forward
but in a good way, it meant interactions with locals was easy and everyone
wanted to practice their English on us (which was a good job as we never really
picked up any mandarin!).
As for the sights of China I really can't do them justice in
one blog post let alone one paragraph; we saw so much in our three weeks here,
from Buddhist grottoes to sand dunes to the epic great Wall of China and I
really feel like we only scratched the surface. Some of the highlights for me
were the Jiayuguan fort- The final point of the Great wall of China where, in
the days of the Silk Road, criminals were banished from China and sent into the
great unknown! Bingling Si- Buddhist grottoes, only reachable by boat which
meant we could escape the tourist crowds and take in the limestone cliffs and Buddhist
carvings at our own pace. The Labrang Buddhist Monastery- Situated in a very
Tibetan area of China is this Monastery which is a popular pilgrimage sight if
Shangri-La is not possible. Spinning the prayer wheels amongst pilgrims who had
come from far and wide was a mesmerising and memorable experience. And then on
our final days trekking the Great Wall of China- Upon recommendation of our
excellent guide Rick, from Beijing we visited the Jinshanling section of the
wall. This relatively unvisited section of the wall provided us with some
stunning scenery and gave us a mix of crumbling "stumble and you will fall
sections" alongside restored guard towers. It was an epic way to finish
the trip and for me and for many others I think, gave us the sense of holy moly
we have really done it... We have travelled from London to Beijing overland!!
So that is the trip complete. I am now actually typing this
from a hotel room in Turkey, having nearly completed the trip back from Bishkek
to Istanbul.. I am set to fly home a week today and Malc is already home spending
some much needed and well deserved time with his family in NZ. So we do
apoligise for us drawing out a 4 month trip into nearly 9 months but hey.. that just shows we were having too much fun! :)
Watch this space for our next travel adventure, who knows where.
Big Love- G x
