China

05/09/2003 the flight from Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) to Urumqi (China) is amazing. First you cross the Tien Sian mountain range with a hundreds snow peaks of which some reach 7000meters. And just like the mountains have never been there, the Taklamakan desert appears. As dry as a desert should be, sand and dust, blown up in the blue sky above it.

Urumqi with a population of one million lies at the edge of the big Taklamakan desert in northern China (Xinjiang province).

The Chinese pump

One of the challenges we face at the moment is how to leave Urumqi on our bicycles... the thing is we had to deflate our tires before entering the plane, because of the air pressure, to Urumqi and we lost our pump in the bus to Bishkek. Not a problem in China you should think, everybody rides a bicycle here, if it wasn’t the fact that they are using car valves or standard bicycle valves and not the specific French race tire valves!! French valves are long and thin, and come with a lot of European (race- and mountain-) bicycles. Just to be absolutely sure we try the regular pump but it absorbs our valves like baggy pants fit a skateboarding teenager. No way we can get 4 bar in the tires!

An old man running a small bicycle shop smiles when we point at some of the inner tubes he sells and we explain that we have (almost) similar French valves. He walks to the back of his ‘garage’ and returns with a regular pump, showing that he cuts the hose for those inner tubes and puts it over the valve. From his ‘below-knee’ little chair he watches his son inflate all our four tires to 4 bar we need. Of course we by a small (foot) pump at his shop, and we cut the hose.

for the none Chinese among us; behind Raymond is Giftparcel for Poah

written down: "Flat Tire Repairshop"

Eating till stomach cramps

Urumqi is one of these places where you get hungry by just looking at all the delicious dishes that are offered on the street.

One-persons sized pots with noodle soup and colourful vegetables are boiling above small fires, shashlik in all sorts, fish of all kind and Chinese fondue: bowls of boiling water built in the table and you choose the ingredients yourself. 10 Leaves of unknown vegetable are pitched on a stick; some go for the fish, tofu, meat and tauge. Simply put the sticks in the boiling water and enjoy when ready.

The fish was so nice… and did you ever had try eating a whole barbequed fish with chopsticks!??! But later in the evening we find out eating that fish will be a mistake. I lay in bed for one day and the next day we start our bicycle trip through the desert to Turpan. Halfway the day we decide to change our direction of our route (with the wind instead of against the wind) and across a 4000m pass (which we would have taken on our way from Turpan). So we have to cycle back to Urumqi and take another road. After 10km we stop for ‘lunch’. After talking for 10 minutes to each other we find out that that we both have

Muriël's bike, look at the no smoking sign!!! Raymond urging for refreshment

stomach cramps and diarrhoea. For Raymond that’s already for one week, for me it’s already 3 days. We take the difficult decision to return to Urumqi and leave our bicycles for the next week and go by bus to make sure we can cycle in Yunnan province (South China). So we return to Urumqi, check in the same hotel as we left in this morning and try to move our airplane ticket one week backward. To change the ticket to another date was for free, while Raymond had the notice that an earlier flight would be more expensive.

"Happy People" "Beehive on wheels"

(one week after the famous fish)

The smelly bus

Plans must be changed and we store the bicycles in the hotel. What a disappointment that we returned from the road that should have led us to 4000meters. We feel terrible, physically and emotional this was one of our highlights. Waiting a week or two, will kill our fitness needed to go up those mountains in Southern China.

Muriël, discussing politics or...? Who ?

We figure that we can do it the Chinese way and take the bus to the summit, shoot some pictures to have some proof we’ve been there and then return or go over the summit. There is a bus going to Khorla and our summit is just in between Uruqmi and Khorla. Seems a good idea, we buy a ticket for the 3 o’clock bus. It can’t be any further than 3 to 4 hours driving. We choose a bed in the ‘sleeper-bus’, there five are double bunks behind each other in three rows with a tiny aisle in between. The aisles are stuffed with shoes and sandals, there the Chinese spit a lot (yes, also in the public transport) you have to watch over your shoes. In your mind you can see the plume of smell coming from the deeper layers of the shoes and the feet of your neighbours. The smell goes up to the roof and to the back of the bus, where we are sitting. Raymond gaps for air and has put his head outside, experiencing the feeling of the hot desert air and facing the risk of getting burned in the 50C desert sun. The experience is like you breathing in a hairdryer or into a exhaust of a local bus. Desert? This bus is not supposed to go through the desert this would mean that we are heading in the direction of Turpan and not for our 4000m summit The driver confirms this route. The bus doesn’t go over the summit, it makes an extra 600km to avoid it! We arrive after 12 hours in Khorla after 250km asphalt and 300km gravel road… nice sightseeing route.

Back-up plan #2… after 3 hours of sleep we inform at what time the first train leaves for Turpan. On a map we have seen that the train runs through the mountains (where we wanted to cycle). At least we don’t have to take the smelly bus back to Turpan. “Ten o’clock in the evening and only once per day” answers the desk clerk to our question. The first smelly bus to Turpan leaves in 20 minutes and we take our last deep breath of fresh air.

Tulufan (pronouncement of Turpan)

11/09/2003. With 6 other Chinese tourists from Hong Kong we have arranged a day tour around Turpan. For us this is the finishing touch in our attempt to ‘study’ the ancient Silk Road. Together with Samarkand and Buchara in Uzbekistan Turpan was one of the main cross points in the network of roads that we call now the Silk Road. We visit the

the "red spot" is Muriël

Thousand Buddha caves, the Karez system, two ancient cities and a wine estate. We find the Karez museum (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/xinjiang/turpan/karez.htm) and the ancient city of Jiaohe (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/xinjiang/turpan/jiaohe.htm) the most interesting to experience. The Karez museum explains a water transportation system that has been used for the last 2000 year and can be traced back to the Han dynasty (202 BC - AD 220). The ancient Karez system is comprised of a series of wells and linked underground channels that uses gravity to bring ground water to the surface, usually far away from the source. In Turpan county there are more than 470 systems, totaling over 1,600 kilometers (1, 000 miles) of tunnels. It is considered as one of the three great projects in China with the other two being the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. Turpan, a village in the middle of the ´Turpan depression´ which is an oasis in the north of the Taklamakan desert gets it’s water through these channels from the mountain range just north of this oasis. Digging the tunnels must feel like al mol because they are 1 meter wide and 1,20m high, but essential for survival and

grapevines (so winetasting) in the oasis.

The ancient city of Jiaohe has been alive between 200BC and 1200AD. All that is left are a lot of ruins that mostly look like someone has been making huge sandcastles. The miniature model of the city however explains it all and it really fascinating to walk through this ancient city.