Subject: The Kindness Of Strangers
Dear All,
I flew out of Bishkek on Tuesday (7/5) and arrived in the People's Republic of China. I arrived with no money and no Chinese. I found a bank but it was closed. I was on the edge of Urumqi and was not sure what to do next.
By the end of the day I had a train ticket to Kashgar and a bed for the night.
I was walking past a teashop when someone offered me food. I said I had no money and another seller spoke to me in English. He gave me three RMB and directions to the bus in English and wrote them in Chinese. I found the bus and showed the paper to a man standing there. He pointed out the corect bus and on the way into town asked another man to tell me when it was my stop.
I got off in the centre (Hongshan) and found another closed bank. I looked around, found someone who spoke English and he offered to help. We found some money changers/chancers who wanted to change money. Another English speaker turned up who decided that the rate offered was too low. He told me I should wait until the next day. I explained that I couldn't so changed 100 dollars on a street corner. The helpers checked the money and said that it was OK.
The second helper then explained buses to the station and wrote down in Chinese the train station and Kashgar. I caught a bus, the wrong one, but people on the bus helped me find the correct one.
At the train station I bought my ticket with the help of Chinese phrases written by Frances (a friend in Bishkek).
Now I am in Kashgar. It's nice but more lived in than Samarkand and Bukhara. I'll stay here for four to seven days.
John
PS I managed to leave Bishkek without any problems.
However, I neglected to pay my last bar bill...
-----------------------------
Subject: Kashgar
Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 21:52:00 -0700 (PDT)
Hi,
Hope you're all enjoying your work. Kashgar, in the far west of China, is quite nice at the moment.
Yesterday I went to the Sunday market. It's one of the biggest in Central Asia. There were so many people, (lots) and many strange things for sale.
There were snow leopard and tiger pelts on sale; lots of spices; snakes and lizards; and all the mundane things on sale at any market, e.g. chopped up tyres, reconditioned wire.
Later I went to the Animal Market. There were sheep and cows on sale, no camels or rhinos. I travelled to this market in a tuk-tuk. They should be introduced to the west.
On Saturday night I went out for a drink with my roommate in the hotel, Paul, and some people he had met on the way from Pakistan. Paul is an estate agent from Birmingham travelling overland to the world cup. There were seven of us: a Swedish war Correspondent and his wife, three French diplomats and Paul and myself. Spot the odd one out. Yes it's one of the diplomats. His father was from Pakistan and his mother from France, so he's French and he understands cricket!
I'll leave for Yarkand tomorrow or Wednesday, I'm not sure. Just before I started this letter, I met two Englishmen and they're going to give me a spare guidebook to China.
John
-----------------------------
Subject: Don't photo the police or army
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 23:47:42 -0700 (PDT)
Hi,
now in Hotan on the South Silk Road.
I left Kashgar on Tuesday to go to Yarkand. There I realised how touristy Kashgar is and how little other towns care about tourists. Yarkand has it's nice parts but there aren't many. Later I decided to photo the old town wall. A policeman or soldier came out and told me to go away. I thought he was going to take my film away.
In the evening I was in my hotel room and heard a sound outside. It was the PLA doing their exercises. The were shouting and singing.
In the morning they repeated the shouting. I tried to catch a bus to Hotan but it had gone so I went back up to Kashgar then caught a sleeper bus to Hotan. Now I have half ther Taklamakan desert covering my rucksack. It's dusty down here.
Tomorrow I'm going across the desert to Urumqi or somewhere north. I might go to a carpet factory here. It's that exciting a place.
John
PS The guide book is a 2002 Let's Go China.
-----------------------------
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 11:45 AM
Subject: 2,000km Chinese bus ride
Hotan
A dry and dusty town. Surrounded by desert. However, it has a carpet factory and a silk factory!! I saw both. They were so exciting it took me about two hours (including bus rides).
The bus ride to Urumqi
We set off on time, (Chinese buses and trains are verfy punctual, a lesson there for other Central Asian republics...) The bus was modern, three bunk-beds across the aisle, six beds 'deep' thirty six beds in total. all was fine then there was a noise and we stopped.
Cannibalism
We weren't in the desert yet but I immediately recognised a survival situation. Fortunately, I am trained for such eventualities (EFL Proficiency Book - desert survival exercise). At the back the three of us divided the passengers into groups: those to eat first, those to eat seceond, those to avoid being eaten by. The suspension had failed causing one of the wheels to move sideways and force itself under the wheel arch. Two hours later another bus arrived. Exactly the same model. The Chinese know how to reassure people.
The Desert
How do you build a bumpy road? Who plows the desert? Twelve hours of non-stop corrugated bumpiness. However the desert is not completely dry. We stopped for a bit and I made a contribution. We nearly crashed once. Two lorries stopped just below the crest of a hill, one lorry overtaking, one bus going full pelt. We ended up in the desert.
Beijing
I'm in Beijing now. It's big but I'll manage.
-----------------------------
Date: 2002/05/30 Thu PM 12:40:54 CST
Subject: Beijing on one ear
Hi,
I'm in Beijing. Have been here for over a week now. Tomorrow I pick up my passport and tickets to Russia. I leave on the 15th June and arrive a week later. I stay for a couple of days then move on.
In Beijing I've seen the Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven park. All very nice. Yesterday a group of us went to the Great Wall. It was impressive, just as you'd imagine.
Tomorrow I'm off to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors.
John
The Pace Of Change In China
When I arrived in China I went to the train station in Urumqi and bought my ticket. The next day I sat in the waiting room and went to Kashgar. I returned to Urumqi about ten days later. The train station had gone. It had been knocked down.
-----------------------------
Sent: 15 June 2002 04:02
Subject: End of China
Hi,
It's me again. you thought I'd gone away, hadn't you. Well there's no escape.
Since last contact I have been to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors. It was very impressive. They stand really really still. It's uncanny.
I went south to Guangzhou, formerly Canton. The market there sells just about anything vaguely edible. Not nice.
Hong Kong was done by me! I stayed with a friend and his family and had a great time. It's like an Oasis in a desert of Chinesenessment.
Back north via the Shaolin Monastery where they teach Kung Fu. I saw a display including little kids who could jump from lying on there back to land cross legged. There was lots of kung fu type displays, all good fun.
An ancient capital, Kaifeng still has many old buildings and was worth the visit. However on the train up to Beijing I came to the conclusion that I hated travelling by train.
Tonight I leave for Moscow on the Trans-Manchurian.
It will take six days and nights, arriving next Friday. Bugger...
John
-----------------------------
Sent: 26 June 2002 11:23
Subject: Trans-sib, Moscow, Tallinn
Hi,
Six days and nights in the company of three Norwegians in a confined space with an unchanging view is to be recommended. It was so good. I want to go again.
The trans-sib was long and interesting. Lake Baikal was unbelievable, so big, so clear. I managed to 'help' the others with my Russian. A few numbers here, the odd word there.
Moscow was not quite what I expected. I thought there would be more Stalinist ugly buildings in the centre. I saw Stalin, but didn't ask him. He was near a couple of Brezhnevs and lots of Lenin's.
Now I'm in Tallinn. Tonight I leave for Riga.
Another middle of the night border crossing. How I love the sleep deprivation.
John
-----------------------------
Sent: 01 July 2002 18:05
Subject: Return (honest)
Hello,
The bus ride from Vilnius was OK. A Lithuanian border guard couldn't resist putting the exit stamp on a clean page so now I only have one clean page left.
I'll have to get a new passport in the summer.
I bought my bus ticket. I arrive at Victoria Coach Station on Friday at one p.m.
John
-----------------------------
Sent: Tue 16/07/2002 16:24
Subject: Home again
hi,
This is the last of the journey type e-mails. I can't remember when I last wrote. I went from Moscow to the Baltics, through Talinn, Riga and Vilnius. The high points were the Old Town in Riga and Talinn.
The lowest point was a KGB museum in Vilnius. It was really horrible, there are some mad people in this world.
From Vilnius I caught a bus down to Warsaw. I stayed for a few days with a friend, Cesar. I visited the town I used to work in. I am still glad I left. We also visited a closed Chopin museum. Always nice to see.
On the 4th I caught a bus to London and arrived back home on the 5th, after over a year away.
Now I'm in Oxford at teaching at a summer school. Next week we have Palestinians and Israelis.
John
� J Mehers 2005