ReidaBlog

Once again I’m more than 12 months late updating. So let’s finish this trip report. In the last 3 sections I used pictures from Ralf’s camera. Let’s now do the whole trip from mine (don’t worry I’ll try to avoid duplicate stories).

I arrive at the Detroit airport around 5am for a 6am flight to Newark where I’ll have about 2 hours to catch my connecting flight to Beijing. When I get to the gate there are people lined up at the desk getting reassigned to other flights and the board says cancelled. Apparently the pilot’s wife just went into labor so he rushed off. Everyone was getting assigned new flights. When it was my turn the gate agent said best they could do was the next flight leaving in about 1.5 hours that might make it in time. 15 minutes later I’m the last one sitting at the gate when a lady in a Continental uniform walks up and asks why the flight is cancelled. When she hears there is no pilot she says, “I can fly the plane.” A couple of calls later and we start boarding…with 1 passenger.

My first private flight

I spend the first week in Beijing looking for new signs:

Seeing old friends who proceed to drink so much at lunch that they fall asleep at work later that day

Finding what has become of Nanjie

And then taking off with Ralf to Xinjiang. You guys know this story already so just throwing in a few pictures from my camera.

What the hell is a ‘head stage’?

You know how on the small commuter flights they caution that when exiting the plane to never step behind the wing? Notice that there are 2 exits…

A mini-bus full of newly minted teachers heading up to the pass. They’d eventually be able to make it since the borders were still open to the Chinese.

Looking down from the hill I climbed.

Ralf on zoom

Self portrait 1

Close-up of the rockfall that wasn’t there on the way up.

Where do I start?

This would have been my favorite picture if I had gotten the perspective right. Any guess what this is? If you guessed a shit stalagmite you are correct.

It was really impressive, probably about 4′ tall. No shit.

I saw these before we actually knew there was lake at the desert. I had no idea what was going on.

I should have learned from Egypt that I didn’t like camels. Notice how I threw in a little of the local language in that last sentence?

Bit of a surreal moment as we ride out into the desert at sunset, far from civilization, and then the guide answers his cell phone.

I call this piece: Graveyard in a sandstorm. Because it is.

Don’t worry I didn’t.

Great gift shop idea: textiles or auto parts

Sun at noon

Don’t worry I did.

If you just want one bag do they provide you with something to carry it in? One of the great questions of our age. Or maybe the real question is who is buying the bags that say “Plastic Bag Shop”?

The touristy Sunday market in Kashgar. Nothing special really. But it was big.

New construction technique, water it and it builds itself.

These guys were not happy to have their picture taken. Abdul had to rush over and save me. I’m still not sure if it was that I was taking a picture in a graveyard or that the grave was fake.

Anyway, after the trip I returned to Beijing and promptly washed my passport. This would cause all sorts of problems but is a story for another time since I don’t have any pictures. I had made this trip to attend Astrid’s 2nd 21st birthday party but plans change and I found myself about to take a ferry to Koh Chang Thailand.

Its seaworthiness did not inspire confidence.

I did make it safely to my remote CFA study lodge.

Not a lot of modern conveniences on Koh Chang but we did get great sporting events on TV.

A couple days later I was heading back when I saw an angel. Thai fashion rocks.

But it has nothing on the mullet of this guy heading to Phnom Penh.

This is one of my favorites. Internet cafe in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh was a great time, partly because you noticed that rules didn’t matter at all.

But I did wonder who travels all the way to Siem Riep to take driving lessons? In other words does this sign really need an english translation? What makes it even weirder was that there were tons of these places, sort of like dentist shops in Kashgar.

On my way to Angkor Wat during the rainy season.

Advice to people who head to Angkor Wat: The tickets are good for 1 day but if you buy your ticket after 5pm you can use it that night and the next day. This allows you to see sunset at one of the temples. I chose to do it at the main Angkor Wat temple.

The main temple is on an island formed by a really big moat seen here with some late afternoon bathers.

Now for my favorite 2-part sign since the ‘unobstructed access’ ramp at Wudaokou

Part 1

Part 2

Entrance to Angkor Wat in the evening. Don’t let the clouds fool you, they are just the typical afternoon rain showers. Most of the day is hot, humid, and sunny.

Crowds leaving for the day and this poor kid who’s parents made him stop and take pictures every few minutes. Who’s been there?

Me and Angkor

In the next two photos the authorities are trying to get everyone to leave in order to turn the lights on. I’ve been trying to get some pictures without any other people in them so end up being the very last to exit. They were pretty tired of telling me to leave but still happy willing to snap some pictures of me.

Since when does Buddha have six arms?

This is where it would have been nice to have a good camera like Ralf’s, Angkor lit up at night.

The next morning I got up early and went back to the temples. Angkor is actually a large complex of different temples so I decided to visit the ones that sounded most interesting to me. As I write this though I can’t remember the names…sorry.

First one is a pyramid at the top of a pretty good sized hill. Apparently a good place to watch the sunset so gets crowded in the evening. However, in the early morning I was the only person around.

Must be the mountain where Moses got his tablets.

They weren’t kidding either.

Each step was about a foot high and 3 inches wide. More like a series of stone ladders. But I’m still appreciative that in the West you wouldn’t have been allowed up and here there wasn’t anyone in the neighborhood to tell me what was/wasn’t allowed.

Narrow steps

View from the top was worth the climb.

“Reid at temple” from my self portrait series

The camera’s timer function gets a lot of use when I travel alone.

Restoration of the 500 year old coin operated binoculars was just getting underway.

In the evening tourists who don’t want to climb up a hill through the jungle to reach the temple can ride an elephant. But in the morning all that is left is a nice pool of urine.

Apparently the elephants drink day-glo lime kool-aid

Timer picture that involved a short sprint and many tries.

I made it farther in this iteration…gives you a glimpse of all the work that goes into making this blog a reality. Each picture is obviously the result of many ‘takes’.

All around the temple there were these little rock piles.

So I built my own.

Time to head to the next temple. This one is famous ( I think it’s called Banyon, the one with all the big faces) and was packed with tourists.

Anchient khymer sculpture technique could obviously use some work, for a statue about as tall as me his feet were huge.

See?

Thais had cockfighting on TV, the cambodians have it on temple walls.

Just providing you all some culture.

This is why the tourists come, to see the big stone faces.

Reid and rocky

Chinese Superman Cowboys!

They were everywhere.

Apparently the girl on the right saw my posing earlier and was inspired. I’m better though.

Inside the temple there was an empty carving. Hmmm…what could go here?

Apparently I’m buddha! Who knew?!?

Giant face temple

More Chinese superman cowboys! They’re spreading.

And on the move.

First glimpse of the ‘Tomb Raider’ temple. The somewhat sad part is this is how it is referred to as the tomb raider temple by everyone. The part that makes me proud is apparently American* cultural hegemony is strong enough to rename a temple in the jungles of Cambodia.

*Technically this would be British cultural hegemony since the original game was created by Eidos a UK game company. But let’s be real it took Hollywood, that quintessential American institution, to embed it into the global cultural lexicon**.

**I had a sudden urge to write this sentence and use big words, not sure why.

Doing a little exploring.

I’m pretty sure they meant that rocks could fall on my head but in the back of my mind I’m thinking landmines.

More of what you’ve all been waiting for…pictures of me.

And because the line to get a picture taken here was really long thanks to…any guesses…oh right, tomb raider, I decide that instead of a picture of myself I’d much rather have one more of the Chinese cowboy superman.

Same tree from the other side.

Well my trip is almost done. All that was left was to take a ride to the Cambodian/Thai border. But this made for a great trip…anyone ever driven down a road while they were building it?

This one is for Meg

Hand painted traffic signs

Must admit I paid a bit extra so I didn’t have to ride on the bus.

One of many ‘Beware Landmine’ signs telling you not to step off the road. Seriously.

Giant roller heading towards us

More ongoing road construction

We got a flat tire so while it was being fixed I decided to walk around and take some pictures.

Gas station

No spare, so flat needs to get fixed at a little tire shop.

Shop had the cutest kid ever and his puppy.

And that is it. I’m tired of writing so I’ll end with a picture of pretty cool archtecture I found in Eric’s driveway when I finally got back to the states.

After two long days we said goodbye to Abdul and went to sleep with plans to fly out to Turpan early the next morning. However we woke up to:

Kashgar airport in a sandstorm

All flights were canceled and we were told to check back later that afternoon to see if there would flights that night.

***I won’t bore you with the details but let me just say that China Southern is the WORST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD. Don’t fly them…seriously, they suck.***

Well, our plans were pretty much screwed at this point (reference China Middle East part I where I mention that Ralf had us on a tight schedule). But there was lots still to see in Kashgar so he called up Abdul who said he could meet us in a little while. We took a taxi to see a local tomb and arranged to meet him there.

Tomb and me, beautiful spring weather.

I wonder if the people who carved this have a severe case of cognitive dissonance.

Sign says “No taking pictures”, that’s right I’m a rebel. In fact later in the day Ralf and I would do much worse (but I’m not sure yet if I’m going to post those pictures since I want to be allowed back into China someday).

Actually a pretty nice building but like much of what we’d see over the next couple of days, these buildings tend to be pretty recent reconstructions.

Abdul told us we could head out into the desert and see the original site of Kashgar (couple thousand years old) which was about 50 miles away and abandoned when the source of water dried up.

After a long drive through the oasis and out into the desert we came to:

One of two remaining structures

Not a lot of blowing sand but still tough to see, car about 100 yards away.

Ralf and I at old building. On the way out to the ruins Abdul’s younger brother turned off the highway and drove through the desert for maybe about 1/4 mile. At which point you arrive to find the place sealed off by barbed wire. No signs or other people around. With the sandstorm reducing visibility it was cool if a bit spooky.

Here’s the other building for the sake of symmetry

***Picture I decided not to post would go here. Bad Reid, bad. ***

Doesn’t mean ’stay out’ unless there is a sign.

American decides not to promote social harmony.

Trusty steed

Abdul, me, and his younger brother.

Before heading back to Kashgar to visit the famous but touristy Sunday market, Abdul wanted to take us to a real non-touristy market. Going through the villages you’d see this structure over a lot of the roads.

Used to grow grapes which would probably make some interesting wine if this wasn’t Muslim country. Instead grapes into raisins.

A real working market

Ralf and I would see several of these on the trip. One of the amazing elements about this part of China is that it is still not really connected to the rest of the country (i.e. no roads and only one train line) so it is hard to ‘import’ massed produced factory goods low cost. The result is that most stuff is made locally and by hand. Probably not going to last much longer though so see it while you can.

Cobblers

All locally grown

Tinsmiths

Carpenters without electric tools

Ass

Dumpling things cooked on the side of the oven. I think most were lamb filled but all were really tasty. Not sure if I mentioned how good the street food was…really good. Plus for some reason the locals loved selling food to Ralf and I…probably because we were overpaying.

I saw barbers giving straight razor shaves and mentioned I was thinking about getting one. When Abdul heard this he immediately took me over, talked to one of the barbers (most Uighers can’t speak Mandarin), and before I knew it I was sitting on a stool in the middle of the market, crowd gathering around to watch the foreigner get shaved.

Before

Did I mention no shaving cream?

Uses water from a dirty bucket to wet the beard and then rubs it in.

I was holding pretty still

After - smoothest shave I’ve ever had

Abdul tells us there is a live animal market just down the road so we head that way.

Getting passed by local traffic

American commercial hegemony

Rock salt

Entrance to livestock market

2 dudes

When Ralf showed them their pictures on the display screen they went crazy with laugher and wanted tons more taken. But they would never smile in the pictures. Meg was the first to convince me that the easiest way to make friends in out-of-the-way parts of foreign countries is using the screen on the back of a digital camera.

Living lamb kabob

All the sheep were shaved prior to going on sale. One of the few places we saw women at the market.

A guy trying to sell me a lamb with Abdul translating

We then headed back to town to go see the Kashgar town market where Ralf turned into happy snappy.

Cotton…so soft

Still not sure what “Health stomatological OPD” is or why they need a sign in English

Paid the right amount this time

I think the merchants could have made more money charging tourists for photos than selling their goods

Best lamb I’ve ever had. Restaurant had a sign saying no photos but Ralf thought that was silly and figured they wouldn’t say anything to westerners.

At the end of the day we find out there are still no flights so we need to check back the next morning. We say goodbye to Abdul again then check into a hotel.

Me in the shower…is it just me or is having a window from the shower into the room kind of naughty for this part of the world?

Next day…sandstorm…no flights…check back tonight. So we call Abdul who says, “Come over to my house and relax.”

Reid and a traditional spread. How many of you have been invited to hang out in your taxi driver’s home?

The funny part was that his wife was home and we’d hear her but never saw her. Middle east.

So Abdul says there is a town, Yarkan, about 3 hour drive that has a palace we could go see and on the way we can stop at a place famous for making the knives all the men carry.

Knife factory, hand made of course

Ralf and I at the “palace”

Which apparently was built all the way back in 1992.

Somehow Yarkan was missing from my history class, I must have been absent that day

World weary Reid finds an ironic pattern for Muslim cemetery

Sultan’s tombs, probably circa 1993

Real blacksmith

Yes Virginia those are twigs used as scaffolding

Traditional pharmacy ingredients…seriously

Want to buy a lamb head?

SARS in training

Intestine shop and German

Apparently when the sun goes down the market turns into a disco

Been there, done that

Not sure I saw too many people who had chosen bottom left or right

Is it just me or do little kids and cats both treat foreigners the same?

Then it was time to start the drive back to Kashgar for (fingers crossed) a flight back to Urumuqi. Picture this: sandstorm, rain, 50 feet visibilty, big trucks and donkey carts, speeding taxi, ipod plugged into the stereo playing extremely loud social distortion with a cab driver bopping his head to the music while randomly honking the horn. I love to travel.

Couple of picks from the drive:

Family of 4. Notice she is side-saddle holding a baby. I love travel.

Dude, that is a camel pulling a cart!

Did I mention 50 feet visibility?

Well, we eventually did get out that night. The rain washed the dust out of the air and we arrived in Urumuqi around 2am. Had to fly to Beijing at about 8am. Got to the airport to find out our flight was…wait for it…canceled. Ralf and I pushed our way to the front of a line like good Chinese and made a fuss until we got on a plane back to civilization.

Did I mention China Southern is the WORST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD?

After getting rejected by the Chinese army and visiting stone city we met up with one of Abdul’s friends, a Tajik truck driver and had dinner at his house. After dinner we walked around town for a bit, stayed at a really crappy hotel and hit the road early the next morning.

What is odd about this scene is that I’ve seen it repeated all over rural China.

Scenery shot early in the morning on our drive back down the Karakorum highway.

See the pointy hill in the middle? I’ll be climbing that in about 30 minutes.

Ralph stopped the car to get a picture of the sky and these little houses. Never was sure exactly what they were.

Driving by the day before I thought they were some kind of tomb but up close they were open to the outside and empty.

Anyway…while Ralph was taking pictures I figured in honor of being so close to K2 I’d tackle a Reid sized mountain.

Was a bit bigger (and steeper) than it looked. Add to that one out of shape American and thin air and you get a sloooow climb.

But I made it.

While my compatriots wait for me to climb down Ralph starts taking yak pictures. Doesn’t seem like the fence is working correctly.

Another speed differential problem.

This picture either juxtaposes the solar powered cell tower and camel (modern and ancient)…or just highlights that I like camel pictures.

Which probably comes from my obviously Egyptian background.

May I present Muztagh Ata from Karakul Lake…how much would you bid for that?

Showing a 3600.5 meter vertical leap.

How’d that get in the picture?

The first and only Chinese campers I’ve seen on my travels. They picked a good location though.

Karakul lake in May…not warm.

Other side of the lake…good shot of Tian Shan mountains. Although since “shan” means mountains I guess that in English these are the “Heaven Mountains mountains”.

One very laid back yak.

And the clouds finally cleared giving us a pretty good shot of Muztagh Ata.

The river running off the glaciers. Source of water for Kashgar and surrounding area.

One thing that makes you nervous is when you pass a big rockslide that you don’t remember from the day before.

Army post from the other side. It is still pretty early so we are the only ones there.

And finally back to the city.

Ralph and I have the rest of the day to check out Kashgar and then we fly out tomorrow morning. First stop is a mosque to Abdul can do Friday prayers. He takes us a to a small one where we get typical “what are these white guys doing hanging outside our place of worship” looks. Then it is off to the biggest mosque in China, Id Kah Mosque.

Friday prayers just ended so we decide to see a bit of the old town and let the crowds disperse a bit before heading to the mosque.

Outside the mosque an outdoor market has sprung up.

1st of many actual working markets we’d see on this trip.

I ask how much and am told “1″ so I give the guy 1 yuan. Then the old guy next to the vendor laughs and I realize he meant 1 mao. Kind of like paying a dollar when it costs a dime. I just got out bargained on the silk road. That’s pretty cool!

In this part of China the signs are in 3 languages.

I was told this is the Uyghur language and not Arabic. Looked similar to me.

I think these rugs are being “antiqued”.

Old town back alley. I was told later that the “old town” was built in early 20th century. Still it looked cool and a bit creepy.

Wiring reminiscent of Thailand (this pic is for Eric).

Well this has been a long one…so I think you guys deserve some…drumroll…Chinese Signs! Kashgar version.

This actually kind of makes sense.

“Oops I did it again” is not something you want to hear from the lady cutting your hair…that was pretty witty huh?

Tea house (turkish style). Lots of old dudes with beards drinking tea.

Kashgar was FILLED with these little dentist shops. Think peddle powered drills and cringe.

When I asked Abdul about it he told me that Uyghurs don’t like to brush their teeth. You’d think hearing the screams coming from the shops everyday would be motivation enough.

Just kidding about the screams.

Lots of craft stores at the market.

When this girl saw us heading her way she quickly put on her veil. So of course Ralph saw that as an invitation to take her picture. I felt it meant she wanted her picture posted on the internet.

After walking around town waiting for the post prayer crowd to dissipate we went back the main square to see what the mosque looked like.

Not so impressive.

I’ve noticed that mosques around the world tend to be a lot less fancy than churches. And they tend to smell like feet. However in this part of the world each one was pretty peaceful, open to the outside and filled with trees. Nice places. But smelled like feet.

I think I made the picture too small.

Interesting parts say: 1) mosque was built in 1442, 2)blah blah blah…and then…”All of this shows that Chinese government always pays special attentions to the another and historical cultures of the ethnic groups, and that all ethnic groups warmly welcome Part’s religious policy. it also shows that different ethnic groups have set up a close relationship of equality, unity and helps to each other, and freedom of beliefs is protected. All ethnic groups live friendly together here. They cooperate to build a beautiful homeland, support heartily the unity of different ethnic groups and the unity of our country, and oppose the ethnic separatism and illegal religious activities.”

Make of that what you will. I am not going to make any comments because I always “follow social moralities”…got to love rules:

Yet another site being renovated for the Olympics. Somehow I doubt many visitors made it out this far.

One of largest Mao statues left in China. Or so says wikipedia. Who doubts them?

Before leaving this part of the country we tell Abdul we want to go see the Taklamakan desert.

After driving out of Kashgar proper we still have a couple of hours of driving through the oasis and reclaimed farmland.

Kind of feel like I’m heading towards a country club or something.

Then we arrive at the desert!

WTF??!!?

Not exactly what I was expecting.

Anyone want to ride in the ball?

A typical Chinese desert scene…waiting for our meal next to the lake.

So where is the desert you ask?

Here it is.

What is there to do in the desert? (notice the tracks? that is foreshadowing)

1) Dunebuggy-ing

2) Pose for desert pictures

3) Pose for more desert pictures

4) Pose for some desert pictures with an adventure theme

AND

5) Ride camels.

Reid swallowed by the desert at sunset.

Body surfing…Kashgar style

Well it was a long day so time to ride off into the sunset.

But before I wrap up just one more picture.

Red Camel