Passu, Pakistan

.
.
.

.

.

.

.

.

Passu is a small village in upper Hunza Valley, the snow peaks here are magnificent, a few travellers and I went up to the Passu Glacier, there is no clear route to go up the glacier, most parts are rocks piling on the glacier itself, the changing icy surfaces make the rocks wobble and thus we needed to pay extra attention while negotiating our way up and down, the scenery there is other-worldly, with cold breeze blowig all the time.

In the late afternoon we went on to see the hair-raising suspension bridge over the Hunza River, which is made up of about 400 widely apart narrow boards.

Khunjerab Pass

The Khunjerab Pass is 4730m in altitude, the road that links China and Pakistan is the famous Karakoram Highway, the highest road in the world. I came from Tashkurgan through the Hongqilapu Checkpoint and went into Pakistan from this pass.

Sunday Livestock Market in Kashgar

The Sunday Livestock Market in Kashgar has existed for centuries, much of the business process still remains unchanged since the yesteryears as people intensely bargain with high tones or whispers or hand-shaking to close a deal. Cattle, sheep or even camel trading occupy the main area with food vendors and craftmen line the edges of the market.

There was a stall in the market selling mutton soup, it smelt really good and I went up to try it out. The Uyghurs there were curious about me and asked some questions in Uyghur that I could not understand at first, but finally I figured out they were asking about my age, and the old guy told me with hand language that he was already 84 and left with few teeth.

Qipan Village

.
.
.

We hitchhiked a big truck to the next village from our last campsite to look for something to eat as the camp food was getting quite monotonous and boring, it was a small village just 3 - 4 km away called Qipan where few outsiders have visited, the friendly middle-aged truck driver dropped us at a shop which was full of people, mostly students, and guessed that it should be good because of the number of customers, the locals were curious about us but soon found us to be amusing when we started to fool around. It was really cozy and I took a nap there after the lunch.

Walking in Taklamakan Desert under a Blanket of Stars

After closing down Checkpoint 22, Hiro and I continued working as sweepers to accompany Cindy walking to the next checkpoint which was 10km away through a stretch of Taklamakan Desert which is full of light rubble. The night was truly amazing, the sky was full of glittering stars and galaxies, it was really great and surreal when we all switched off our headlamps and sat for awhile and enjoyed this wonder of nature.

We walked from 12 midmight and finally reached Checkpoint 23 at 04:15. Four-hour walk through the desert in the middle of night was actually a fantastic experience, although Cindy was apologetic to have slowed us down, I actually enjoyed it very much.

Blistering Hot and Freezing Cold

Last few days we were experiencing the typical desert weather where the day time was long and blistering hot, nights normally arrived at about eleven o'clock. After the sun fell behind the hills, the temperature changed rapidly and soon it became freezing cold with winds trying to get into the tents from whatever holes or leaks.

On The Way to Damushi Village

Today we again went through the rocky deep gorges and passed through countless muddy streams gushing down which due mainly to the unexpected rain.

The media team decided to set up the satellite system at the middle of the main road in one village and send out breaking news as the road to Damushi was inaccessable by one of the main vehicles. Villagers all flocked up and were curiously trying to decipher the strange behaviors of these funny looking people doing some weird stuffs in their village.

Langer Village in Datong Fork

We went though barren and rocky deep gorges through road that was carved out from the hills, it was very cold and basically we just shut the windows as the truck struggling and negotiating through the bumpy road filled with rubble.

It was told that no foreigners had ever come to the Langer village and we were going to spend a night in local homes. The interior of their homes are normally covered with carpets and cloth with traditional patterns and main colours as red and blue, along one side of wall it was made a level up to be the bed or chair, the bottom are sands and thus feels softer when covered with carpets and it is actually comfortable to sleep on.

Tajikstan in China

We set up the checkpoint beside a village after Federic and Dave marked the course along the gorge, these Tajiks were most curious about us but remained extremely friendly and helpful. The girl in bright red was recently married and she had to wear red clothings for the first three years of the marriage.

Leaving for Tashkurgan

Tashkurgan County is located at the eastern part of Pamir Plateau, it borders Pakistan, Afganistan and Tajikstan at its northwest, where the Kunlun, Kara Kunlun, Hindukush and Tian Shan mountains come together. The second-highest mountain of the world, Mt. Qogir ('K2,' 8611 meters) is located partly in Tashkorgan, as well as Mt. Mutzagata, also known as 'K5' at 7546 meters.
We started the convoy from Kashgar, it took us about 7 hours to reach the basecamp of Racing The Planet, the weather was cold and windy in this summer time, I put on my Marmot light jacket and lent the NorthFace one to Sue as she was shivering even all windows in the truck were closed.

Operation Smile

Operation Smile is a non-profit organisation for children with cleft lips or palates, we visited them in one hospital in Kashgar between our trainings. These parents were generally having positive attitudes even though checkered with misfortune. Operation Smile brings forth hopes for them by providing surgeries to repair the deformaties and leads them towards a normal life.

Behind the gracious looks of the parents, although there is a hidden worrisome, you can really feel the fortitude that has carried them along the hardships.

To visit their website, please go to: http://www.operationsmile.org/

Lost in the Old Town of Kashgar

.

.

.

.

.

.

The old town of Kashgar is made of bricks, mud and some other simple materials, oozing the exotic air of traditional oasis town of Silk Road, a place that once visited by Marco Polo, Sven Hedin etc. Up until today when modernization has been creeping in from all corners, still the old town retains the charm passing down throughout the centuries.

The streets in old town jumbled up like a labyrinth, doors are comparatively small and ceilings are low, I wandered around and finally lost inside as some paths will just lead to other people's houses.

Leaving for Kashgar

From Urumqi I left for Kashgar by a white coloured double-decker train No. N886. The ride would take 23 hours. This is one of the most exciting train rides thus far.

Not long after leaving Urumqi, came in sight was herds of two-humped camels grazing freely on a grassland with few small lakes around. The train continued speeding into a barren hilly landscape and went through a series of tunnels, it was a contrast when ranges of mountains with streaks of snow appeared as backdrop. Out of a sudden I saw a brown fox, with black nose and bushy tail, running wildly as the train went passed. I got excited because it is one thing to see a caged one, and another to see a wild animal. Then I noticed actually there were quite a number of small animals here and there on the plain, looked like rabbit or marmot which I am not really sure. Occasional there were some cone-shaped tents of shepards, they spread far apart on the grassland, some with herds of sheep, and some with horses, I found the life here congenial and absorbed all these into memory with rapt attention.

Urumqi City from Red Hill

Red Hill, according to myth, is part of a dragon stained with blood. One pagoda was built in 1788 at the tip here and another at the next hill few kilometers away, to secure the town and save it from flooding.

It was quite a leisure walk up the 910.6m Red Hill, the weather was clear and the photo on the left was taken from a tower at the summit, actually behind the town is the desert. Turning right from that position (not in photo), snow-capped mountains from Tian Shan ranges can be seen.

Corn Bread

An Uyghur selling different types of bread.

Putting dough into the pit.

Just stick onto the wall like this.

This is the corn bread made by Uyghur, very hard, you can eat with tea or tear it bit by bit.

Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum

The Xinjiang Museum had been relocated to a brand new and modern building since my first visit there.

The new museum has opened up 4 halls currently to display the lives and archaeological findings in Xinjiang area. Chinese, Uighur, Kirgiz, Tartar, Xibe, Tajik, Russian, Daur, Uzbek, Arab, European etc came around this area each with different languages and religions, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Shamanism etc. These displays have brought forth a sense of historical importance, with the rise and fall of vaious cultures, Loulan, Yanbulak, Qiemurqiek etc, a bustling place where all these differences mingled around.

Interior of Xinjiang Museum

The hunting rock painting of Altay Dunblak

.

Qiaerger deer-patterned stone in Fuyun County

.

.

Ancient female mummy, 3800 years old

.

Stone statue of No 2 Kainar

Freedom in China

Normally I didn't really care much about the human rights or freedom of speech etc pressured on China by western countries.

But just a few days in China, I was surprised to learn that many popular websites are currently banned in China by GFW (so called Great FireWall of China) for the reasons I am yet to find out. Those websites like Blogger, Wikipedia, Flickr etc cannot be accessed or photos cannot be viewed, some even claimed that Google and Gmail had similar fate some times ago.

I always think that a ban in the freedom of expression is an indication of failure in education, a lack of confidence in one's righteousness but still wants to exert controls.

Normally when something is banned, it will not just stop that way, it is a human nature to find ways to go through, around, underneath, over it, for example, will a country which bans prostitution have no prostitutes? It will just go underground, and problems will be difficult to be assessed and rectified when neccessary.

The more something is supressed, the more it shows the suppressor's inability to handle different voices from an equal stance.

Civilized Anything

It is not unusual to notice that there are a lot of banners with slogan hanging here and there in China, one word that comes out most often, I think, is 'civilized', for example, be a civilized citizen, civilized unit, civilized management, civilized user, civilized working, civilized driving etc, it has been used so widely until it has almost reached a stage where 'civilized' can just be coined to any nouns and verbs. 'Civilized' here simply means to be considerate, to think about others, to respect.

The China population has been ranking top for long, it has become a custom for most people to fight for whatever they want without considering much about others, living in scarcity for so long has planted a concept that whatever you want will be grabbed by others if you are not fast enough and being too considerate, this mode of survival skill has been carried forth until the age of economic booming.

As Beijing 2008 Olympic is approaching, the government has worked extra hard with the hope to remove as much 'uncivilized' habits as possible from the public, in order to not leave a bad image to foreigners. However, smoking in a closed public area like lift, train carriage, or spitting onto floor or even carpet, peeing beside a road etc can still be seen.

Third Class Train Carriage in China

One of the good ways to see the real life in China is to get on a third class train carriage. It was a chaotic mess (to outsiders) where people shouting, yelling, squeezing etc, trying to get the place they want, it is a situation normal to request in an unhappy tone, and refuse in an angry tone, and then quarrel will start by shouting back and forth between two parties.
Such situation happens frequently, because in third class carriage , many people are holding 'no seat' tickets, this type of ticket allows passenger to get on the train without confirmed seat, whoever buys such ticket will have to stand at aisle, or wherever he or she can find a place to squeeze in, the situation gets worse when there is no fan nor air-cond, and attendant, due to safety purposes -- afraid that stone or whatever object speeds in and hurts passengers, forces passengers to close windows, the whole carriage will tense up in a hot and humid condition.

On Space

Since my landing in Macau and on the way up the China, I need to always adjust my own perception of space. It is not necessary for a room to be at least this big, or a seat in train that spacious. It would require some time for me to get used to what is considered as 'normal' space here. Even the train, in the so-called luxurious carriage, has lower, middle and upper berth, I could not even sit up at the upper berth, that is the place for you to sleep, not sit, anyway.

Macau

Since my last trip to Middle East, I have strongly felt that my journey should not be just checking off places of interest one by one. Normally these places are frequented by tourists instead of locals, I went to the Ruinas de San Paulo, the landmark of Macau, it was almost full of tourists.

Some travellers opt to do something different, they avoid these places but spend more time at the market, coffee shop etc, where locals hang out.

In Macau, one of those places is the casino. One fifty over year old aunty warned me not to drink or eat anything provided by the casino, she claimed that one will be stuck there until one loses all the money; her husband and daughter did not listen to her and thus they suffered terribly, she was the clever one and never let anything in the casino to go through her throat, that was the reason she could win some money from the casino. Some others would blame the feng shui, to channel all money into the owner's pocket.

No matter what they blame, this has become a way of life in Macau, where you can see signboard asking people addicted to gambling to go for counselling.

Bon Voyage

Today is the day I am flying off. The flight delayed for about an hour, heard that it is a situation normal for this particular airline. The rain was pouring at the departure time, and this was the first time I used an umbrella to go in a plane, quite a refreshing experience though.

After about 10 minutes of flying, there was a glimpse of clear blue sky; soon outside the window was a whole spread of blue as we were flying over South China Sea, the plane touched down at about 18:15, after taking the check-in luggage and out of airport, it was about 19:00.

The half balded guy at the airport information counter told me there might be no bus to Macau Square as the last one was at 19:00, but I was fortunate enough to get a bus no. MT2 to Macau Square and found a cheap hostel there. To say that it is a hostel is quite a misleading term, as most people would not imagine how it actually looks like. But it is quite common in this area, and Hong Kong perhaps, because the land is so scarce. The staircase is narrow and just looks like leading up to somebody's apartment, actually, it is an apartment consists of only 6 small, untidy and dirty rooms. A seventy over lady and a young guy greeted me, I haggled for a while and finally settled at M100 for a room with bath.