Dear friend,
The snowfall you mentioned - as far as I've learnt from our guides, it has turned into a flood and damaged the road between Urumqi and Turfan. Some of the HK tour groups with an itinerary between these two places have been affected, but not us.
It has been another very tiring day on the coach today. We left our hotel very early in the morning and then took a boat ride at Lake Bositang. At about 10 AM we began our ride from Kurle to Turfan. We did not reach Turfan until 9:40 PM. Besides a few toilet stops, we had to stop for two hours for lunch at a road side shabby (smelly, dirty too) eatery and the kitchen was slow. The road was not good. Then we had to stop for about 30 min because there was blasting nearby. Then one of the tires had to be repaired. Everyone lost patience and started complaining. We remember nothing but waking up early, very long coach journeys, eating and then going to horrible toilets. And with all these horrible experiences the guides were still unable to deliver us to our sights. We missed the sights after taking long journeys to get there. We have just missed a Uygur entertainment show tonight after what.. 11 hours on the road to get to Turfan. ALAS. And our Uygur guide was not responsive to our sentiments (never said sorry etc). I guess he thinks that it is not his fault that the roads are poor, and that the coach requires repairs again and again. ALASSSSS.
Tomorrow we are going to see the "Flame Hill" etc. and then we are going to travel to Hami. I only hope that we can finish the planned itinerary. This has become a kind of a hope it seems.
Will write later if I have the chance.
30.9.03
29.9.03
Xinjiang
Hello everyone. I am now in a city called Kurle in Xinjiang. This is a Mongolian self-governing county. Since it produces oil, the city is and looks very prosperous.
I have been to Xi'an, Urumqi, Kashi, Aksu, Kuqa so far. None of these places was particularly memorable. If the city was very well developed, it did not have a "silk-road" feel. If it was not well developed, then we worried about the hotel, the toilet all the time, and yet there was still not much "silk-road" feel. What is most impressive is the time we have to spend on the coach, 8 hours a day, 6 hours a day and 5.5 hours for today, because Xinjiang is such a vast place and the cities are really far apart. Our guide has brought a whole set of "Kangxi Diguo" (50 hours) for the coach journeys. But since there were some problems with the electricity of the coach, we endured two very quiet yet very long coach journeys.
The people in the tour group are very nice and we get along well. I eat three full meals every day and am growing fat. Xinjiang is getting colder (is already quite cold), but, alas, half of the clothes that I have brought is short-sleeve tees. So I have a problem here. I hope it will get warmer after we get to Turfan.
Will write to you if I have the chance. Will be back on 7.10.03
I have been to Xi'an, Urumqi, Kashi, Aksu, Kuqa so far. None of these places was particularly memorable. If the city was very well developed, it did not have a "silk-road" feel. If it was not well developed, then we worried about the hotel, the toilet all the time, and yet there was still not much "silk-road" feel. What is most impressive is the time we have to spend on the coach, 8 hours a day, 6 hours a day and 5.5 hours for today, because Xinjiang is such a vast place and the cities are really far apart. Our guide has brought a whole set of "Kangxi Diguo" (50 hours) for the coach journeys. But since there were some problems with the electricity of the coach, we endured two very quiet yet very long coach journeys.
The people in the tour group are very nice and we get along well. I eat three full meals every day and am growing fat. Xinjiang is getting colder (is already quite cold), but, alas, half of the clothes that I have brought is short-sleeve tees. So I have a problem here. I hope it will get warmer after we get to Turfan.
Will write to you if I have the chance. Will be back on 7.10.03
13.6.03
Paris
My hotel provides free internet access, but with only one PC and all the wrong coding, it is very difficult to use it.
Just bought myself a very expensive LV handbag [640 euro, plain crazy]. Not really one that I had originally planned for but was recommended by the shop staff [friendly japanese]. Couldn't decide so took some time and when I returned to the shop the one and only one there was just sold!! Had to go all the way to Au Bon Marche to buy the only one left in Paris. The LV branch on Av Champs-Elysees seemed quite empty. I can think of a number of reasons. But I didn't buy or intend to buy there cos I have always hated the attitude of the staff there.
The Chagall exhibition was very expensive [9 euro] and I didn't really like it. I had thought that I would like it because his paintings look very nice, dreamy and colourful from a distance and I liked the church windows he designed. But on closer look the paintings are filled with flying people, flying goats and flying bulls. Felt dizzy and a headache. Julia Roberts says in Notting Hill, Love is not love without a violin playing goat. I probably liked Chagall because of this.
Hope my flight back home [tomorrow night] will be all right. It is not Air France staff who are having a strike, but the public sector workers, i.e. Air Traffic Controllers. Checked with AF personally today [met with very cold staff], and have been told that the flight would be all right. But I think something might be outside the airline's control. The metro in Paris is running quite allright though.
Just bought myself a very expensive LV handbag [640 euro, plain crazy]. Not really one that I had originally planned for but was recommended by the shop staff [friendly japanese]. Couldn't decide so took some time and when I returned to the shop the one and only one there was just sold!! Had to go all the way to Au Bon Marche to buy the only one left in Paris. The LV branch on Av Champs-Elysees seemed quite empty. I can think of a number of reasons. But I didn't buy or intend to buy there cos I have always hated the attitude of the staff there.
The Chagall exhibition was very expensive [9 euro] and I didn't really like it. I had thought that I would like it because his paintings look very nice, dreamy and colourful from a distance and I liked the church windows he designed. But on closer look the paintings are filled with flying people, flying goats and flying bulls. Felt dizzy and a headache. Julia Roberts says in Notting Hill, Love is not love without a violin playing goat. I probably liked Chagall because of this.
Hope my flight back home [tomorrow night] will be all right. It is not Air France staff who are having a strike, but the public sector workers, i.e. Air Traffic Controllers. Checked with AF personally today [met with very cold staff], and have been told that the flight would be all right. But I think something might be outside the airline's control. The metro in Paris is running quite allright though.
12.6.03
Paris
Hello. I am killing my time in a cybercafe in Paris. This is the cheapest one [called easyinternetcafe, always the cheapest]. The arrangement of the keys of the keyboard is very weird, making it very difficult to type.
I dont really have any plan today. Probably will go to see a temp exhibition on Chagall in the Grand Palace. Spent half day in Louvre yesterday [again!]. My legs almost came off after I had strolled through the museum from 1600 to 2000 [4 hours!]. I used to focus on the most famous works but recently I chose to stroll through the place and always met something less famous but just as stunning. There is a Da Vinci exposition going on there. I never fancy much about him but saw it anyways [extra charge! should have spent it on the Armani exhibition in Berlin!]. Not impressed as always. As expected, many of the works [cartoons, sketches] came from the QEIIs collection. I really don't understand why people think he was so special. Most of his works are left unfinished. I like Michelangelo way way better.
Paris is VERY expensive. Berlins prices are very reasonable when compared to Paris. And Paris is dirty. And the people as unwelcoming as ever. I don't know if I would buy anything now that Euro is so expensive.
But the museums in Paris are usually works of art in themselves. Berlin is no comprison in this. Pergamon was such a lousy place that I had to leave in 2 hours. But Berlin itself was quite lovely.
Please tell me something about the SARS situation in HK.
I dont really have any plan today. Probably will go to see a temp exhibition on Chagall in the Grand Palace. Spent half day in Louvre yesterday [again!]. My legs almost came off after I had strolled through the museum from 1600 to 2000 [4 hours!]. I used to focus on the most famous works but recently I chose to stroll through the place and always met something less famous but just as stunning. There is a Da Vinci exposition going on there. I never fancy much about him but saw it anyways [extra charge! should have spent it on the Armani exhibition in Berlin!]. Not impressed as always. As expected, many of the works [cartoons, sketches] came from the QEIIs collection. I really don't understand why people think he was so special. Most of his works are left unfinished. I like Michelangelo way way better.
Paris is VERY expensive. Berlins prices are very reasonable when compared to Paris. And Paris is dirty. And the people as unwelcoming as ever. I don't know if I would buy anything now that Euro is so expensive.
But the museums in Paris are usually works of art in themselves. Berlin is no comprison in this. Pergamon was such a lousy place that I had to leave in 2 hours. But Berlin itself was quite lovely.
Please tell me something about the SARS situation in HK.
10.6.03
1st message
Dear friend,
I am sending my first message during this trip. Hard to believe.
The packaged tour was all right. I had little to complain. My own trip in Berlin so far has not been bad either. The only down side has been the weather. It is too hot. Most of the time it is about or above 30 degrees and it is really hard if outdoor. I spent most of my day time in museums (10 museums in 3 days, done almost all the home work you gave me) to hide from the sun, so it has been allright until today. I took a very expensive train ride to Leipzig, walked and then I could not bear the sun. Plus I was not able to call Air France (flying tomorrow, must call to confirm in case of strike). Feeling physically and emotionally unwell, I returned in about three hours, again taking the very expensive ICE train.
This is the worst day of my trip. But then I will be in Paris tomorrow, so who cares.
Eating very little when on my own. Feeling very unwell the first day when I was on my own, only to discover later than I was in fact very hungry, to the point of stomach ache. My best record was to spend less than 8 euros a day. Will tell you how and why later.
Bye now.
I am sending my first message during this trip. Hard to believe.
The packaged tour was all right. I had little to complain. My own trip in Berlin so far has not been bad either. The only down side has been the weather. It is too hot. Most of the time it is about or above 30 degrees and it is really hard if outdoor. I spent most of my day time in museums (10 museums in 3 days, done almost all the home work you gave me) to hide from the sun, so it has been allright until today. I took a very expensive train ride to Leipzig, walked and then I could not bear the sun. Plus I was not able to call Air France (flying tomorrow, must call to confirm in case of strike). Feeling physically and emotionally unwell, I returned in about three hours, again taking the very expensive ICE train.
This is the worst day of my trip. But then I will be in Paris tomorrow, so who cares.
Eating very little when on my own. Feeling very unwell the first day when I was on my own, only to discover later than I was in fact very hungry, to the point of stomach ache. My best record was to spend less than 8 euros a day. Will tell you how and why later.
Bye now.
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