It took me a long time to decide to back pack in China. I have considerations on safety, infrastructure that may cause delays and the people. Having tour China earlier on package tours, I am exposed to people of the tourist industry only and do not like the way they tried to sell to me.
I went on the silk road in Sept 2000 and found the people of the west to be poorer and I do meet very nice helpful people who go out of their way to help me with direction. After being nervous for the first 2 days, I settled in and felt comfortable mingling with the locals. We travel with them on buses/trains, exchange information on places of interest and our ways of life. There are many locals from the East eg. Beijing who visited the West and some actually are appalled that I backpack with my sister. On this trip, the things I saw are more on human feats than scenery. In Xinjiang, I was surprised that it was so developed. |
