I am doing my utmost to get to the far west of China, but it is turning out to be much harder than I thought. I want first to go to a place called Urumqi which is a 2-day train ride away from either Shanghai or Beijing. The train from Shanghai goes through Benbu which is only 2 hours away from where I live. But I can't get a ticket for that train. Well, maybe I could, but it would involve going to either Shanghai or Benbu to actually buy the ticket (if they weren't all sold out) and then coming back and waiting for the day that the train left. I have applied for time off on the assumption that I will be able to get a ticket somehow. Usually, the earliest you can get a ticket anywhere is 6 days before departure, so it makes travel that much more exciting (the only polite word I can think of).
As I am not going to trek to Benbu or Shanghai on the off chance that I may be able to get a ticket to Urumqi from there, I have enlisted the help of a friend who lives in Beijing. She assured me it was no problem for her to get me a ticket for the Monday night train when they went on sale on Friday morning.I was a bit sceptical, but eventually was won over by her utter confidence. I promptly went down the street to the train-ticket-selling booth and bought one of the last tickets on the Saturday night train to Beijing and allowed myself to believe that this whole adventure would actually get off the ground.
Friday
Today I found out that the tickets for the Monday night Beijing-Urumqi train sold out last night... I know that doesn't make sense, but this is China, where guanxi rules. It's all about who you know... My friend is incredibly embarrassed about this and has promised to do her best to get me a ticket for a train later in the week.Apparently she has a friend who can 'guarantee' a ticket, but I'm not holding my breath.Now I am stuck with an expensive ticket to Beijing and no ticket out of Beijing. I sigh. If no ticket to Urumqi materialises before, say, Wednesday, I will go somewhere else. Here's hoping that guanxi and face will work for me this time rather than against me.
Sunday
I have a ticket for Wednesday night! This means I will arrive in Urumqi on Friday afternoon, and I will have lots of time to practice my Chinese... I smile.Karakul
I have arrived at one of the most amazing places ever. I'm lying in a yurt on handmade carpets in a bed of quilts near Karakul Lake in XinJiang Provice - far far west China. Some of the quilts are made from camel-hair felt... it is 10.30pm and the sun has only just gone down (that's because everywhere in China is on 'Beijing Time'). I am surrounded by mountains and most are snow-covered all year 'round. I've come here from Kashgar through the desert in a minibus filled with pilgrims on the way to Mecca and assorted tourists.
I have the yurt to myself tonight (for only RMB20). I am so incredibly taken with this place. The scenery is breathtaking and real in a way that other places in China aren't. So much of the land in China is 'scaped' - molded and terraced and controlled by people, but that is impossible here. The land has a genuine power, a force. I'm writing letters by candlelight and in the distance I can hear music from the only hotel in the area and I'm glad I am not staying there. I am staying in a yurt that belongs to a local family. They have a stone house in the permanent settlement on the other side of the lake, and this yurt for tourists.Archives Index
