kjp

If you're in my contacts list, you'd already have received this. If not, read on for a summary of my China trip.

I flew into big Beijing - oversized buildings, roads; checking out Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden city, a day trip to a part of the Great Wall, and a few of the temples and parks around the city. Next was Xian the main attraction of which was the nearby buried Terracotta Warriors that were outside of the city. Thousands of life sized terracotta warriors were buried in 210 BC - impressive due to their number, intricacy and age.

After the first two cities, we passed through the Hexi corridor (a strategic passage when the silk road was used as a trade route between East and West) and headed for the Taklamakan Desert (the second largest desert in the world). The fort at the western end of the Great Wall near Jiayuguan (which was the last outpost of several Chinese dynasties) was very impressive - having the mountains of the Tibetan plateau on one side and the desert on the other. While further north west near Dunhuang, the Mogao caves had some impressive Buddist art created over 1000 years between the 4th and 14th centuries. Also at Dunhuang, a pre-dawn camel ride to see the sun rise over the sand dunes was pretty cool.

Moving into Xinjiang province to Turfan, exploring a quiet village near the Flaming Mountains was interesting; as was looking at their irrigation system (ancient over & underground runoff from nearby mountains). The first major mosque of the trip was the Emin Mosque and Minaret (relatively modern constructed in 1778); we also visited Jiaohe a ruined ancient city built on an island between two rivers. Camping in a yurt for 2 nights in the Heavenly Mountains was a good break (albeit very cold during the evenings). A horse ride from the camp up 1000 metres to the top of one of the mountains resulted in some great views of the nearby lake. We then took several days to cross the Taklamakan desert (Taklamakan means if you go in, you won't come out) - the worlds second largest desert. On the other side was Hotan, with its jade, silk and carpets. The final stop of the tour was the far North Western city of Kashgar the Sunday market (livestock) was interesting.

After Kashgar, I was on my own for three weeks in the South Western provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan...

Chengdu was the first city I stayed at after leaving the tour group. I enjoyed - it's got a relaxed feeling to it. Went and saw some Pandas nearby, a temple and the Sichuan University Museum had some very ornate clothing and paintings. Litang was the next major town: it is a high up (4400m above sea level) in western Sichuan. It was interesting watching the lamas and Tibetans go about their lives. I got altitude sickness here - headache; nausea; no energy; breathlessness, so I took it easy. Got similar symptoms when I was on a couple of bus rides in the region that had passes at 5000 m above sea level...

Crossing over from Chengdu to Yunnan, I stayed at Zhongdian for two nights. The old town was rather new (some building were being built done up for tourists), but behind the new old town was the real old town and was interesting to wander around. Walking along Tiger Leaping Gorge for 3 days / 2 nights was spectacular: 'Jade Dragon Snow Mountain' was high above me on the other side of the Yangtzee river that was far below. It's one of the deepest gorges in the world - 3900 m between the mountain top and the river.

My time in Lijiang was effected by bad weather, and meant that I didn't see several of the more scenic things around town. However, at this stage in the holiday (after being on the go for a while), I enjoyed taking it easy in the old town. Dali (old city) was also enjoyable to relax in - near Erhai Lake. The nearby 3 Pagodas were impressive. The final stop was Kunming which was interesting - the "Bird and Flower" market didn't have many birds or flowers - but did have things that would be hard to get past customs / quarantine / RSPCA... Walking along the cliff of XiShan amongst old grottos / caves / pagodas was interesting (but disconcerting when you're right on the edge of a cliff face and you hear blasting for a new road below you); as was visiting the 'Bamboo Temple' with it's many life-like figures.

After an overnight stopover in Kuala Lumpar; my journey ended when I got back to Brisbane last Sunday.

And lastly, a few impressions of China / other bits and pieces I haven't mentioned of the trip:

* The highlights would be Tiger Leaping Gorge, the fort at Jiayuguan, Heavenly Mountains, and the scenery of western Sichuan
* The lowlights would be the pollution in some of the cities (Xi'an in particular), getting altitude sickness in Litang, being sick on the tour (just a cold, but annoying), the bus on the ride from Kangding to Litang...
* If you weren't told what sort of system of government was in place, you'd swear it was a capitalistic society - everyone trying to make money, and fairly individualistic too... Communism in name only.
* There's a great disparity in the wealth of the people - some very rich in the big cities; but many very poor people in the rural areas.
* There was *heaps* of media hype about Shenzhou 6.
* The people are friendly, but you just have to start talking to them first - they initially appear a bit on the cold / arrogant side.
* Overall, the roads are ok. Some are pretty good (between major cities); some of them in 'the sticks' are shocking; some in western Sichuan are scary... having a steep cliff down to the Yangztee a few hundred metres below you, on an unsealed dirt road that, when the bus stalled, sunk by a fair bit is nerve racking...
* The 'sleeper' (overnight) trains are pretty good, provided you're in a hard or soft sleeper.
* The scenery is impressive, but several people who live in Europe weren't as impressed.
* Chinese food is yummy but oily, and nothing like Chinese food restaurants in Australia. Uighur food (in Xinjiang) has lots of lamb and skewers and pilaf in their night markets. Lots of food in the South West is spicy... burnt my mouth several times.
* I didn't (that I know of...) had dog meat. I did have donkey in Xinjiang and yak in west Sichuan.
* The standard beer in China is 500 mL. We were in Xinjiang (very Muslim) during Ramadan... no alcohol at some restaurants... oh dear...
* Xinjiang is vastly different to eastern China - you could be forgiven for thinking you were in a Middle Eastern country - the people are different (different ethnicity), different language, food, religion (Muslim).
* Buddist / Tibetan culture is apparent in western Sichuan; while parts of Yunnan have a reasonably strong Naxi (a local tribe) culture apparent.
* It's both a dirty and clean society - people litter, spit, etc; but there are many more (than Australia) people cleaning the streets.
* It's weird seeing a really old guy on a donkey/cart talking on a mobile phone.
* I still haven't figured out why Litang (high up in western Sichuan) has plastic palm trees down the main street...