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The title of this post may be a bit dramatic for the present condition of Xinjiang, but “armpit” is the inevitable, if unfortunate, direction that Chinese leaders are taking this once culturally rich, stunningly beautiful and majestic land.
Our trip through Xinjiang lasted two weeks, and during that time we went to most of the “glories” that Lonely Planet bothered to write about. We arrived in the capital of Urumqi, but were told by everyone to get out of that city as fast as possible because it was nothing but a Han (Chinese) dominated dump, which was close to the truth. So, after staying less than 12 hours in the city, we got on a train going south to Kashgar. Kashgar is really all that is left of “majestic” Xinjiang. The culture at least, was still visible, and exploring the Old Town was a trip back in time, despite the Chinese graffiti everywhere, and by graffiti I mean the character “Chai,” which was spray painted across most buildings in Old Town like festering sores. “Chai” has often been the scourge of old Beijing, and means to raze. Every building with the character “Chai” written on it is destined to be torn down at a moment’s notice, on the whim of government developers.
What made it so paradoxical was that every tourist billboard in Kashgar advertised Old Town as a “tourist zone,” and they obviously recognize its worth as a tourist money maker (if not its worth as home to hundreds of thousands of Uighers), but they still are intent on knocking it all down. Apparently Old Town is scheduled for demolition within the next few years, and we had seen it just in the nick of time.
From Kashgar we took a 3 day journey to the Southwest, nearing the borders of several Stans – Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. We visited a glacier lake, Lake Karakul, which was beautiful, but the whole experience was ruined by local thugs who extorted money out of us by refusing to let us leave until we paid an exorbitant “entrance fee” to see this lake. From there we went to the Chinese border town of Tashkorgan, which aside from the ruins of a Stone City, unique dress of the Tajik people and beautiful views of snowcapped mountains, was just another Han dump town like Urumqi.
From there we took a drive to the China-Pakistan Border. The drive itself offered breathtaking views of snow-capped mountains, and when we arrived we had the thrill of stepping into Pakistan, under the close supervision of the Chinese border patrol who were a little overly zealous about keeping you in China. The three Pakistani policeman that were there didn’t care whether you walked five feet or five feet 3 inches into their country, but the Chinese sure did, and would shout at you to come back into China if you went just an inch too far.
After that we went to the base camp of the third highest mountain in China, Mount Moseque Ata (spelling is wrong I’m sure), where we camped overnight. That is a story in itself.
Weary after our camping experience, we went back to Kasghar, and from there hopped on a bus to Hotan. Hotan is meant to be the most Uigher of all cities, not as overrun by Han conquerors as elsewhere. This of course meant that communication was a little more difficult, but we still managed just fine. While in Hotan we went to the Sunday market, which was quite the cultural experience. You can buy virtually anything you would ever need if you lived in Xinjiang, sheep’s wool, silk headdresses, carpets, bed frames, goats, cows, donkeys, skull caps, etc. We had an interesting time at the Livestock Bazaar, where there were thousands of sheep, some cows, and donkeys. The only camel we saw in there, however, was a decapitated one. We also visited the slaughterhouse, where they sold every part of the animal except for the head, which lay in piles on the ground. It was a little sickening because I kept imagining that they were human heads!
We left Hotan and took a bus through the Taklamakan Desert, which was an interesting but very long ride (24 hours). The story of how we got on the bus is also an interesting one, which I will leave for later.
Our destination was Turpan, the second lowest spot in the world and also the hottest place in China. It’s famous as a grape growing area, and they certainly could make delicious wine if Muslims drank alcohol. As it is, the Muslims simply dry the prodigious amounts of grapes and make raisins of them. The small wine industry that is there is controlled by the Han, and as you can imagine, the wine is terrible. Most pedestrian paths in Turpan are covered with lattices laden with grape vines, and all over the countryside as well, making Turpan a beautiful city to stroll through. In fact, I would rank Turpan as the most beautiful city in Xinjiang.
From Turpan we went back to Urumqi, which was the start off point for a 4-day Chinese tour that we joined because it was super cheap. The tour took us to the North of Xinjiang, to Lake Kanas, which borders Kazakhstan and Russia. The Kanas area was actually a “Nature Reserve” but the definition of a nature reserve to the Chinese is vastly different to Western perceptions, to put it as tactfully as possible. To get into the reserve you have to pay a steep entrance fee, and then you have to pay just as steep a “transportation fee” because in order to get around the 25 kilometer reserve, you have to take a gas guzzling passenger bus. And then, once you are on the bus, the tour guide stops off at three designated “scenic spots” in which you get off the bus for five minutes, take pictures, and then get back on. Yes, the area was beautiful and pristine, but it was all beautiful and pristine. Only the Chinese like to pick out the best spots, label them as “scenic spots” for photo taking, and that’s it. That’s how the vast majority of Chinese tourists enjoy nature. To top it all off, there was a lot of construction within this so called nature reserve. They were building fake Swiss-style resort cabins, and even a mini city, within this protected reserve. It was a little disgusting what they were doing to this truly beautiful spot.
But, aside from these negative aspects, the areas away from the construction and tourist zones was incredibly beautiful and pristine. The first day Andy and I found a back entrance to the path leading up to Guanyu point, a mountain peak that afforded stunning views of the lake, mountains and forests. Normally you would have to pay an additional 40 kuai just to climb this mountain, but as we snuck in through a back way we didn’t pay. Plus, there was absolutely no one else on the path, so it was like our own private mountain path that we were climbing. The second day we walked several kilometers along the Kanas river, which was beautiful, and for the most part we didn’t see any other tourists (because they just visit the designated “scenic spots” and don’t go anywhere else), so it was tranquil and pleasant, and so so beautiful.
After that we went back to Urumqi to spend our very last night. We went to the night market, which was very fun, and had the most interesting meal of our trip. We had our own little grill on our table, and cooked all our own meat and vegetables (wearing aprons to prevent grease splatter). It was an enjoyable last night. A visit to see the 1500 year old “Europoid” mummies unearthed in Xinjiang was the last thing we did in Xinjiang before we got on a plane back to Beijing, where it was such a relief to sleep in my own bed and shave off two weeks of hair growth (Sorry if that was too much information).
In all, my impression of Xinjiang was that it was like a cake that has been sitting on the counter for a week and then dropped on the floor. When it was fresh, it was absolutely delightful and delicious, beautiful and tantalizing. Then it started to decay, and then through mishandling or mismanagement was mangled even more. You may still want a bite of that cake knowing that it may have lingering sweetness, but there is only a short time until it is absolutely rotten and you have to throw it away. You either need to refrigerate it now to preserve what’s left, or completely begin again. Hopefully my thoughts on this matter don’t get me kicked out of China!