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
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