Jiejie’s Adventures on the Silk Road
Sep 3, 2012, 8:37 pm
#61
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Buddhist Caves and Sand Dunes
July 1. Today had been highly anticipated—a visit to the Mogao Caves. After a spot of supermarket-purchased breakfast snacks in my room, I took the receptionist’s instructions and right across from my hotel, caught the first (8:30 am) local bus to the Caves for RMB 8. Unfortunately, it took 30++ minutes, resulting in me being a little late for the start of the 9:00 a.m. daily English tour (other English tours at 12:00 and 14:00). Tip: For the morning tour, don't cheap out with the bus, just take an RMB 30 taxi from town and get there on time! I grabbed a very useful little English guidebook at gift shop on my way to the ticket booth (RMB 180 for English guide), then scuttled over to the opening to see that two other foreigners (Aussie couple) were equally late. The ticket taker quickly got us through and escorted us up to the rest of the group which had 8 people in it. We missed the first cave but managed to pick it up at the end of the tour anyway.
The Caves at Mogao number nearly 500, and were hollowed out and decorated between the 4th and 14th centuries A.D. and spanning 9 dynasties. Not all caves are in good shape, but a remarkable number have survived to various extents. The guide told us that 50 of the caves were open to the public: 40 of them on regular tours and rotated around from tour to tour and week to week. 10 of them special caves which required special admission fees, generally RMB 200 per special cave. None of our group decided to splurge on these and for most standard tourists, probably not worth it. You cannot predict with certainty what caves you will be shown on any given tour/day, though it's a pretty safe bet you'll see one of the huge Buddha Caves and the Library Cave. A few of the caves are kept continuously open during operating hours, but most of the caves that are open to the public still must be unlocked and relocked by the guide accompanying each tour group. So even if you are left to wander inside the restricted area, you'll need to tag onto another group to get a glimpse of different caves.
My expectations of the art were high, but due to what I’d heard about the system at Mogao as well as the crowding, I was prepared for an overall let down. However, perhaps I got lucky, but I had a great experience. Not only did we have a small group, the guide was quite good and didn’t rush at all. I learned quite a bit. And there were not the on-site crowds I’d expected. There were some Chinese tour groups but not too many, and we only crossed paths at a couple of the Big Buddha caves, so were not too affected. And at least at Mogao, the Chinese guides use small microphone transmitters and the group members wear wireless headsets to hear, so there is no bullhorn activity, which cuts down tremendously on the crowd jostling and the ambient noise. The Chinese groups did look quite large (25-30 people per) and their guides definitely looked like they moved faster...but then, most Chinese aren’t necessarily that interested in in-depth coverage of the subject.
Our English tour took a full two hours, and we saw 9 caves from various eras. At the conclusion, our guide let us stay in the fenced controlled area if we wanted, as she left. I managed to see another couple of caves by tagging on to a Chinese then a Japanese group (didn’t understand the commentary on that last one!). Then I left the controlled area for some panoramic shots of the cliff walls, and then for the well-regarded (and free) Exhibition Center. Well worth spending an hour or so in its own right, the Exhibition Center shows historical details of the Caves and the findings, also technical details on how art and images were created, as well as the particular problems of the Caves and conservation efforts to repair and preserve them. And my favorite part--8 caves are recreated exactly. Only one of which was on my tour, so I felt like I got to see more “caves”. Chinese Copydom at its finest and highest use! I spent 1.5 hours at the Center and then managed to catch the public bus at 13:30 back to town, for another 8 RMB. Tip: Take the morning tour if possible, as it's a bit cooler and the lighting on the cliffs is better for photography in the morning.
I felt I had a great experience, far above my expectations, and well worth the money. Headed back to the Oasis Cafe for another big lunch (this time a full large pizza plus fresh-made ice teas). Upon hearing of my frustrating experience at Not Finding the Free way to access the sand dunes yesterday, helpful and Fount-of-Wisdom Owner Kevin told me the secret. Aargh! It was so obvious that I can’t believe I missed it. I resolved to take another bite at this apple later in the day. He also mentioned that within a few years, access to the actual caves was probably going to be completely cut off to the general public in an effort to preserve them, allowing for researchers and pre-approved visitors only. Apparently, a new and more extensive Visitors’ Center is under construction and will contain more re-creations of caves that will be presented to the public instead of the real thing. Tip: My guess is that it will take another 2-3 years to get the interiors done, so a window of opportunity exists to see the real thing for awhile longer. I now feel complete, that I’ve seen Yungang, Longmen, Dazu, and now Mogao. All very different and all worthwhile in their own way, though I’d rank Longmen as a lesser experience versus the other three.
After completion of lunch, again went back to room for a rest and did some internet research. I decided that as part of finding my way back, that I’d go ahead and visit the Matisi cave site outside Zhangye, which meant two nights there, then phoned in a booking request directly to my previous hotel there. Tip: Particularly for smaller independent hotels, always grab and keep a business card; you never know when you may need them again. I also decided that I would definitely avoid Lanzhou and instead take the bus from Zhangye to Xining and end the Silk Road trip there.
At 17:30, I once again set out about 5:30 for the dunes. This time catching an honest taxi driver lady for RMB 10. Armed with a detailed how-to from Kevin, I set out again to find the free walk-in access and avoid that ridiculous entry fee. Once there, I realized my mistake from yesterday (turned too early and down an incorrect path). It’s actually quite easy and only takes about 15 minutes once you know where you are going.
(a) Have taxi or bus drop you off at farthest point they can go on the big boulevard that terminates at the ticket booth/gate.. There will be a barrier in the middle of the road, and a bus lot off to the left. It’s still quite a walk from the actual ticket booth.
(b) Walk a very short distance down the sidewalk, passing a bunch of open air souvenir vendor stalls. There will be a small road right after that, turn left and walk down it. Once you turn, a big construction site with fencing (summer 2012) will be on your right.
(c) Walk all the way down this road (turns to unpaved) until just past a little village. The camel drivers live here and you’ll see their camels “parked” in the village! There will be construction trucks coming up and down the road occasionally heading to a site—this is how you’ll know you’re on the right road.
(d) Immediately after the village, you’ll come to a huge open area (it’s partly a cemetery). Walk diagonally right and you should start to see the dunes and the end point of the fencing. Just find any path (the dirt is pretty hard packed in this area) and get out there.
(e) You should be able to do any climbing you want—there’s small and HUGE dunes right there. You’ll see the camel caravan ride in the distance, and there may be some ATV tourist riders zipping around nearby in their buggies. Nobody should stop you, as long as you don’t trek over to the central area in front of the tourist entry gate, where all the bus group tourists are.
Unfortunately, while the sky/weather was better visibility than yesterday, the wind kicked up a bit and was blowing sand which made it a bit uncomfortable. I thankfully had brought that thick face mask provided by the hotel, and with my glasses, kept my face pretty well protected. But I was getting unpleasantly sandblasted, and also I was worried about sand getting into the camera. If the wind had not been blowing, I would have climbed further and higher, as while the sand was hard work, it was still solid enough underneath to provide decent footing. After about 30 minutes, I was satisfied and started to retrace my steps back to the bus parking lot. Overall, probably less than 1 km of walking to get from bus/taxi lot to the dunes, and well worth it to avoid the tourist trap bits and the 120 RMB fee. I couldn’t tell from my vantage point, but it may be possible with a bit of hiking, to get around from the other side of the dunes to the Crescent Spring (or man-made lake, or whatever the Chinese have done to it!). Taking one’s own toboggan or tray and sliding down the dunes might also be fun. I headed back to Dunhuang by bus about 19:30 pm with sun still pretty high in the sky, a bargain at RMB 1 back to the middle of town. This is a good place to cheap out on transport cost!
I walked around the food court and pedestrian street and surrounding areas but just wasn’t hungry—the heat and the large pizza eaten about 2 pm meant food just wasn’t in the cards. So I settled on going back to the Oasis for more delicious unsweetened ice teas. By serendipity, met that nice Aussie couple from the Mogao Caves tour again and we had a nice chat until 21:00. On the way back to my hotel, I stopped off at a grocery again for breakfast goodies and water, then attempted to wash about a half-ton of sand out of my hair! And my face looked a bit sunburned and sandblasted. Worked on some plans and reservations for Xining before bed. It had been a very enjoyable and fruitful day. Like Zhangye, Dunhuang is actually a rather nice place to relax and just savor the Silk Road. If I’d had the time, I probably could have happily spent another couple of days there.
In retrospect, I wish I had planned the time interval between Xi’an and Kashgar better, and left myself 2-3 days in which to insert Dunhuang on the outbound leg so I could avoid rushing to hit Kashgar by a Sunday. It makes more sense to proceed from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang (bus or train) then from Dunhuang to Turpan, Urumqi, Kashgar, return to Urumqi. Had I done that, I would have just flown from Urumqi to Xining which would have ended up saving me a couple of days off the overall trip.
The Caves at Mogao number nearly 500, and were hollowed out and decorated between the 4th and 14th centuries A.D. and spanning 9 dynasties. Not all caves are in good shape, but a remarkable number have survived to various extents. The guide told us that 50 of the caves were open to the public: 40 of them on regular tours and rotated around from tour to tour and week to week. 10 of them special caves which required special admission fees, generally RMB 200 per special cave. None of our group decided to splurge on these and for most standard tourists, probably not worth it. You cannot predict with certainty what caves you will be shown on any given tour/day, though it's a pretty safe bet you'll see one of the huge Buddha Caves and the Library Cave. A few of the caves are kept continuously open during operating hours, but most of the caves that are open to the public still must be unlocked and relocked by the guide accompanying each tour group. So even if you are left to wander inside the restricted area, you'll need to tag onto another group to get a glimpse of different caves.
My expectations of the art were high, but due to what I’d heard about the system at Mogao as well as the crowding, I was prepared for an overall let down. However, perhaps I got lucky, but I had a great experience. Not only did we have a small group, the guide was quite good and didn’t rush at all. I learned quite a bit. And there were not the on-site crowds I’d expected. There were some Chinese tour groups but not too many, and we only crossed paths at a couple of the Big Buddha caves, so were not too affected. And at least at Mogao, the Chinese guides use small microphone transmitters and the group members wear wireless headsets to hear, so there is no bullhorn activity, which cuts down tremendously on the crowd jostling and the ambient noise. The Chinese groups did look quite large (25-30 people per) and their guides definitely looked like they moved faster...but then, most Chinese aren’t necessarily that interested in in-depth coverage of the subject.
Our English tour took a full two hours, and we saw 9 caves from various eras. At the conclusion, our guide let us stay in the fenced controlled area if we wanted, as she left. I managed to see another couple of caves by tagging on to a Chinese then a Japanese group (didn’t understand the commentary on that last one!). Then I left the controlled area for some panoramic shots of the cliff walls, and then for the well-regarded (and free) Exhibition Center. Well worth spending an hour or so in its own right, the Exhibition Center shows historical details of the Caves and the findings, also technical details on how art and images were created, as well as the particular problems of the Caves and conservation efforts to repair and preserve them. And my favorite part--8 caves are recreated exactly. Only one of which was on my tour, so I felt like I got to see more “caves”. Chinese Copydom at its finest and highest use! I spent 1.5 hours at the Center and then managed to catch the public bus at 13:30 back to town, for another 8 RMB. Tip: Take the morning tour if possible, as it's a bit cooler and the lighting on the cliffs is better for photography in the morning.
I felt I had a great experience, far above my expectations, and well worth the money. Headed back to the Oasis Cafe for another big lunch (this time a full large pizza plus fresh-made ice teas). Upon hearing of my frustrating experience at Not Finding the Free way to access the sand dunes yesterday, helpful and Fount-of-Wisdom Owner Kevin told me the secret. Aargh! It was so obvious that I can’t believe I missed it. I resolved to take another bite at this apple later in the day. He also mentioned that within a few years, access to the actual caves was probably going to be completely cut off to the general public in an effort to preserve them, allowing for researchers and pre-approved visitors only. Apparently, a new and more extensive Visitors’ Center is under construction and will contain more re-creations of caves that will be presented to the public instead of the real thing. Tip: My guess is that it will take another 2-3 years to get the interiors done, so a window of opportunity exists to see the real thing for awhile longer. I now feel complete, that I’ve seen Yungang, Longmen, Dazu, and now Mogao. All very different and all worthwhile in their own way, though I’d rank Longmen as a lesser experience versus the other three.
After completion of lunch, again went back to room for a rest and did some internet research. I decided that as part of finding my way back, that I’d go ahead and visit the Matisi cave site outside Zhangye, which meant two nights there, then phoned in a booking request directly to my previous hotel there. Tip: Particularly for smaller independent hotels, always grab and keep a business card; you never know when you may need them again. I also decided that I would definitely avoid Lanzhou and instead take the bus from Zhangye to Xining and end the Silk Road trip there.
At 17:30, I once again set out about 5:30 for the dunes. This time catching an honest taxi driver lady for RMB 10. Armed with a detailed how-to from Kevin, I set out again to find the free walk-in access and avoid that ridiculous entry fee. Once there, I realized my mistake from yesterday (turned too early and down an incorrect path). It’s actually quite easy and only takes about 15 minutes once you know where you are going.
(a) Have taxi or bus drop you off at farthest point they can go on the big boulevard that terminates at the ticket booth/gate.. There will be a barrier in the middle of the road, and a bus lot off to the left. It’s still quite a walk from the actual ticket booth.
(b) Walk a very short distance down the sidewalk, passing a bunch of open air souvenir vendor stalls. There will be a small road right after that, turn left and walk down it. Once you turn, a big construction site with fencing (summer 2012) will be on your right.
(c) Walk all the way down this road (turns to unpaved) until just past a little village. The camel drivers live here and you’ll see their camels “parked” in the village! There will be construction trucks coming up and down the road occasionally heading to a site—this is how you’ll know you’re on the right road.
(d) Immediately after the village, you’ll come to a huge open area (it’s partly a cemetery). Walk diagonally right and you should start to see the dunes and the end point of the fencing. Just find any path (the dirt is pretty hard packed in this area) and get out there.
(e) You should be able to do any climbing you want—there’s small and HUGE dunes right there. You’ll see the camel caravan ride in the distance, and there may be some ATV tourist riders zipping around nearby in their buggies. Nobody should stop you, as long as you don’t trek over to the central area in front of the tourist entry gate, where all the bus group tourists are.
Unfortunately, while the sky/weather was better visibility than yesterday, the wind kicked up a bit and was blowing sand which made it a bit uncomfortable. I thankfully had brought that thick face mask provided by the hotel, and with my glasses, kept my face pretty well protected. But I was getting unpleasantly sandblasted, and also I was worried about sand getting into the camera. If the wind had not been blowing, I would have climbed further and higher, as while the sand was hard work, it was still solid enough underneath to provide decent footing. After about 30 minutes, I was satisfied and started to retrace my steps back to the bus parking lot. Overall, probably less than 1 km of walking to get from bus/taxi lot to the dunes, and well worth it to avoid the tourist trap bits and the 120 RMB fee. I couldn’t tell from my vantage point, but it may be possible with a bit of hiking, to get around from the other side of the dunes to the Crescent Spring (or man-made lake, or whatever the Chinese have done to it!). Taking one’s own toboggan or tray and sliding down the dunes might also be fun. I headed back to Dunhuang by bus about 19:30 pm with sun still pretty high in the sky, a bargain at RMB 1 back to the middle of town. This is a good place to cheap out on transport cost!
I walked around the food court and pedestrian street and surrounding areas but just wasn’t hungry—the heat and the large pizza eaten about 2 pm meant food just wasn’t in the cards. So I settled on going back to the Oasis for more delicious unsweetened ice teas. By serendipity, met that nice Aussie couple from the Mogao Caves tour again and we had a nice chat until 21:00. On the way back to my hotel, I stopped off at a grocery again for breakfast goodies and water, then attempted to wash about a half-ton of sand out of my hair! And my face looked a bit sunburned and sandblasted. Worked on some plans and reservations for Xining before bed. It had been a very enjoyable and fruitful day. Like Zhangye, Dunhuang is actually a rather nice place to relax and just savor the Silk Road. If I’d had the time, I probably could have happily spent another couple of days there.
In retrospect, I wish I had planned the time interval between Xi’an and Kashgar better, and left myself 2-3 days in which to insert Dunhuang on the outbound leg so I could avoid rushing to hit Kashgar by a Sunday. It makes more sense to proceed from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang (bus or train) then from Dunhuang to Turpan, Urumqi, Kashgar, return to Urumqi. Had I done that, I would have just flown from Urumqi to Xining which would have ended up saving me a couple of days off the overall trip.
Last edited by jiejie; Sep 3, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Sep 3, 2012, 8:40 pm
#62
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Zhangye Redux and Matisi
Woke up and had one of those “Where the Heck am I” moments of confusion, then remembered it was July 2, I was in Dunhuang, and needed to pack like a madwoman and gobble a DIY breakfast in order to check out by 08:30 and get to my 09:30 train to Zhangye. I grabbed a taxi for flat rate RMB 30, which turned out to be a bargain when the dragon guarding the long driveway to the station building refused to let us in (too many taxis already inside?) so the driver gamely parked by the highway and schlepped my suitcase about 400 meters to the entrance. What a prince. Unusual for China these days, there was NO ticket-taker/ID checker outside the terminal guarding the entrance, you simply walked straight into the building and to the security x-ray. Bought a pot noodle for lunch and water for the 7- hour journey, then a short 15-minute wait until boarding was called.
This new station in Dunhuang is on the outskirts of town and is a godsend to avoid that 2-hour bumpy ride out to Liuyuan to catch a train. It’s a simple non-fancy terminal but clean and does the trick. Problem is, this new Dunhuang Station currently only has three outbound trains per day, all heading east towards Lanzhou. No westbounds. But if you can make it work for you, a very civilized and inexpensive way to enter/exit Dunhuang, especially when compared to the exhorbitantly-priced flights. The platform is one of those newer ones that don’t require climbing. My Carriage 11 guardian just looked at my ticket but didn’t ask for ID also. Same with on-board ticket taker/card switcher.
I had one of the more marvelous experiences on a Chinese train—a soft sleeper compartment (lower berth) all to myself, all the way. And my carriage wasn’t very full either. There are benefits to taking a sleeper on a daytime train, and lower density is one of them. So I had a glorious time in my private rolling hotel room, working on the computer, napping, lunching, looking at scenery out the window, more napping, etc. Arrived in Zhangye right on time at 16:40, and behold! My young lady taxi driver from 2 weeks’ early was there and excited to see me again. Put my stuff in her taxi then she said wait a second and I’ll get one more person, then fare will be RMB 20 to the Jinshun Hotel. She acted like I was a long lost friend but think she really was pleased that a foreigner thought enough of Zhangye to actually come back for another visit. She dropped me off at my hotel, where the desk lady also remembered me and grinned away. Got the room next to my previous one, and by 5:15 pm was checked in, in the room, and ready to go out for a walk.
I first went to the West Bus station next door to the hotel and confirmed that the time, cost, and duration of the bus to Xining. I deferred buying that ticket until the next day. Then I took a long zigzagging walk to the South Bus Station, where I bought a ticket to Matisi for the first bus out the next morning at 7:35, RMB 11.50. The lady selling tickets said the return bus was only at 16:30 in the afternoon, nothing earlier. But I decided I’d figure something out when I got down there—maybe a minibus, tour bus, private car, or something to glom onto. I had no idea how long this visit would take, but had gotten very casual about transportation and confident that somewhere, somehow, something would be rolling down the road when I needed it.
Next, I walked through the main central market but didn’t find anything appetizing. However, across the street the Muslim grillers had set up and I had some VERY spicy grilled green beans, potatos, and a flatbread. Yummy but spicy and messy. Walked back to the Drum Tower, through the restaurant-heavy Ye Olde China area, then to my favorite restaurant from the previous stint. Ended up having to waddle out. Two dinners (one on the street, one at the table) within close time proximity is for me never a good idea.
Mati Si, Horse Hoof Temple
Mati Si is not very well-known to either domestic or foreign tourists, yet the area is another of the Buddhist cave cliff areas that periodically punctuate the Silk Road. It is located in the foothills of the Qilian mountains south of Zhangye city, in a rather nice area of lush agricultural field and little villages, some Han and some Yugur (related to Tibetan) people. That’s Yugur, not Uighur. Mati Si has a small monastery with a few monks in residence, in addition to the caves which are open to the public. There are some other cave sites like Jintaisi relatively close by that are better preserved but open to researchers only, not the general public. Many of the sites in this area of Gansu have not yet been fully researched and catalogued. Mati Si is also a bit of work to get to, if you have no private vehicle at your disposal but use public transport. Getting there and back promised to be half the fun.
Accordingly, the next morning, I was out the door just before 7:00 and ran into the the bus station next door to buy a pair of tickets to Xining for the next day. Yay, got seats 1-2 up front. Then grabbed a taxi to the South Bus Station where the bus to Mati Village was waiting outside. We took off on time at 7:35, fought our way through Zhangye traffic for about 20 minutes, then about 0.5 km away, the bus stopped and waiting for more passengers (illegal passengers) until 8:25. I was quite annoyed. I hate it when drivers/conductors pull this personal revenue enhancement stunt. Once we got out of Zhangye, it took about another hour bumping along through roads of mixed quality but lovely pastoral scenery with the mountains in the background. About 9 km from Matisi itself, the bus stopped at a village crossroads and five of us who were temple/cave bound got out, obviously nowhere close to the temple itself. The bus driver handed some cash to a waiting car, and we crammed in to finish the journey, which took about 20 minutes. After a brief stop at the ticket gate to buy the two temple tickets (RMB 35 for the main Northern temples and RMB 20 for general entrance/Qiangfo temples), we drove another few km to the tourist “village” and staging area. I was quite surprised to see several big Chinese tour group buses, and a large number of private cars in the lot. I was expecting the place to be empty. I buddied up to one of my fellow bus passengers, a Tianjin retired lady, as I had decided she could be very useful to help with logistics. Our car driver gave us business cards in case we needed to recall him for a ride back to the crossroads to pick up a return bus.
There has clearly been a lot built up at Matisi in the last few years. Tianjin buddy (“TJ”) and I weren’t interested in the attractions above the parking lot (yurts to stay in, animal zoo, etc.). We headed instead to the white stupas/lookout point....which leads to the main access path to the cave. This took a 15-20 minute walk up a noticeable gradient. There were a large cluster of Chinese tourists at the stupas, mugging for cameras, getting in the way, being noisy and the usual Chinese behaviors. Some were paying to play dress up in Yugur costumes and get photos taken. (The Yugur outfits are quite attractive, by the way.) Besides that though, the views across the valley and to the nearby Qilian mountains were lovely. After a few minutes there, TJ and I walked further along the path to the caves, which were hewn out of the cliffside similar to Dunhuang Mogao Caves. This is known as the Northern Caves. The Southern Caves (a different cliff) is not open to the public.
At the bottom of the (relatively flat) path to these caves is a small parking lot and a ticket booth with ticket taker, so if you missed paying the RMB 35 up front, you can buy this ticket here. Up a goodly flight of steps, and we were free to explore the caves. The main feature cave (cavern) is partially open to the outside, and has a large center pillar section with huge space for a large Buddha (now missing) and a lot of worshippers. Then a Buddha hall to walk around the central pillar—unfortunately many of the statues have been damaged. The decoration here is more sculptural than painted as at Mogao, but much cruder overall. Some smaller ancillary caves flank the big one. Then there is a series of caves and tunnels cut into the rock, with steps of various steepness connecting them. One sort of worms their way through these various passages to the different levels, ending up at the top cave which has a screened (for safety) balcony installed, and is a worship area. The entire effect of the climb is that of being in a rock Fun House—probably best avoided for the claustrophobic and those afraid of heights. Frankly, it’s rather unsafe and what’s left of the cave paintings is in poor condition. TJ and I spent about 1.5 hours on the main site, which was plenty.
This was my overall impression of Matisi—unloved and pretty much unprotected and without resources. I hope the place is not too far gone to be redeemed. Based on photos I’ve seen that were taken 5-8 years ago, it looks like massive deterioration has occurred since then. There wasn’t really that much to this place, so TJ and I walked back to the parking lot and then decided to head down the road to the Qianfo (1000 Buddha) Temple which was a few kilometers back towards the entry gate. We had walked about a km when we realized that this place was really pretty far, fortunately we flagged down a passing car with a nice guy who didn’t mind taking us the 10 minutes down the road to Qianfo (for free). I liked Qianfo. First of all, it was quiet with no other tourists. Second, it had monks in residence (later talked to one who said 8 of them lived there). Third, it had a nice picturesque arrangement of “hanging” temples. Not really hanging, but carefully perched on the side of a cliff. Several of them. TJ and I walked up some decently-kept stairs to a few of them, took some pics, and then headed back out the gate to the road.
Creatively Returning to Zhangye
By then it was a little after noon and there was almost no traffic on the road. We decided to recall the driver who was agreeable to take us the 9 km back to the crossroads...for 15 RMB apiece. Robbery! But what can you do? There were no taxis waiting around at the official entry gate/ticket sales office. Back at the crossroads, we waited and waited...probably about 20 minutes. With a rather threatening rain cloud and thunder approaching. A nearby resident said “Bus to Zhangye should be by any minute” but never trust a rural person’s sense of time duration. We finally got lucky and two ladies in a small truck came by and asked where we were going. They fortunately were heading to Zhangye to pick up something. And had a nice passenger back seat for me and TJ to relax in. The drive back still took about 1.5 hours (mostly due to having to drive slow over a bumpy road) but we had quite a bit of fun chatting. And when they asked where we wanted to be let off, TJ and I coincidentally were staying at the same hotel...and the ladies’ destination was about 50 m from us! Best yet, they refused to charge us any more than the bus...or RMB 11.50 apiece. So all in all, while I don’t think Matisi is a recommended “must do” and especially not paying for a private car/guide out of Zhangye, transport for a total of RMB 23 and RMB 55 entry is an OK use of 6 hours of time, and I had a cultural experience as well. We got back to hotel about 15:00 pm.
I promptly headed off to the snack street to get a late lunch, then get some water and snacks for bus ride the next day. Back to hotel for a rest. Decided to head out again about 19:00 pm for a last snack and photo session, ended up in the square outside the Workers Cultural Park. Got some spicy grilled beans and potatoes, then spotted a foreigner nearby having a beer; he nodded at me and smiled. Headed over there and found out the beers were cold, bought us one apiece and proceeded to sit down and chat. Turns out he was a young American Peace Corps volunteer assigned to Zhangye to teach English (the only type of program China allows PC to do in country). He was winding up 2 years and had 4 weeks to go before heading back to USA and law school. Seemed like a smart kid, and definitely shared some of his (dis)illusions about the PC program in China. It was relaxing to be able to speak English for a while with somebody equally fluent. I had to chuckle to myself: of the long list of Silk Road travelers over the millenia, we've had traders, adventurers, monks and religious proselytizers, warriors, etc etc....and now Peace Corps Volunteers.
We said our goodbyes about 21:00, nearly dark, and I headed back to hotel for some final reflections. I was sorry to be saying goodbye to Zhangye...it really is a neat little town.
This new station in Dunhuang is on the outskirts of town and is a godsend to avoid that 2-hour bumpy ride out to Liuyuan to catch a train. It’s a simple non-fancy terminal but clean and does the trick. Problem is, this new Dunhuang Station currently only has three outbound trains per day, all heading east towards Lanzhou. No westbounds. But if you can make it work for you, a very civilized and inexpensive way to enter/exit Dunhuang, especially when compared to the exhorbitantly-priced flights. The platform is one of those newer ones that don’t require climbing. My Carriage 11 guardian just looked at my ticket but didn’t ask for ID also. Same with on-board ticket taker/card switcher.
I had one of the more marvelous experiences on a Chinese train—a soft sleeper compartment (lower berth) all to myself, all the way. And my carriage wasn’t very full either. There are benefits to taking a sleeper on a daytime train, and lower density is one of them. So I had a glorious time in my private rolling hotel room, working on the computer, napping, lunching, looking at scenery out the window, more napping, etc. Arrived in Zhangye right on time at 16:40, and behold! My young lady taxi driver from 2 weeks’ early was there and excited to see me again. Put my stuff in her taxi then she said wait a second and I’ll get one more person, then fare will be RMB 20 to the Jinshun Hotel. She acted like I was a long lost friend but think she really was pleased that a foreigner thought enough of Zhangye to actually come back for another visit. She dropped me off at my hotel, where the desk lady also remembered me and grinned away. Got the room next to my previous one, and by 5:15 pm was checked in, in the room, and ready to go out for a walk.
I first went to the West Bus station next door to the hotel and confirmed that the time, cost, and duration of the bus to Xining. I deferred buying that ticket until the next day. Then I took a long zigzagging walk to the South Bus Station, where I bought a ticket to Matisi for the first bus out the next morning at 7:35, RMB 11.50. The lady selling tickets said the return bus was only at 16:30 in the afternoon, nothing earlier. But I decided I’d figure something out when I got down there—maybe a minibus, tour bus, private car, or something to glom onto. I had no idea how long this visit would take, but had gotten very casual about transportation and confident that somewhere, somehow, something would be rolling down the road when I needed it.
Next, I walked through the main central market but didn’t find anything appetizing. However, across the street the Muslim grillers had set up and I had some VERY spicy grilled green beans, potatos, and a flatbread. Yummy but spicy and messy. Walked back to the Drum Tower, through the restaurant-heavy Ye Olde China area, then to my favorite restaurant from the previous stint. Ended up having to waddle out. Two dinners (one on the street, one at the table) within close time proximity is for me never a good idea.
Mati Si, Horse Hoof Temple
Mati Si is not very well-known to either domestic or foreign tourists, yet the area is another of the Buddhist cave cliff areas that periodically punctuate the Silk Road. It is located in the foothills of the Qilian mountains south of Zhangye city, in a rather nice area of lush agricultural field and little villages, some Han and some Yugur (related to Tibetan) people. That’s Yugur, not Uighur. Mati Si has a small monastery with a few monks in residence, in addition to the caves which are open to the public. There are some other cave sites like Jintaisi relatively close by that are better preserved but open to researchers only, not the general public. Many of the sites in this area of Gansu have not yet been fully researched and catalogued. Mati Si is also a bit of work to get to, if you have no private vehicle at your disposal but use public transport. Getting there and back promised to be half the fun.
Accordingly, the next morning, I was out the door just before 7:00 and ran into the the bus station next door to buy a pair of tickets to Xining for the next day. Yay, got seats 1-2 up front. Then grabbed a taxi to the South Bus Station where the bus to Mati Village was waiting outside. We took off on time at 7:35, fought our way through Zhangye traffic for about 20 minutes, then about 0.5 km away, the bus stopped and waiting for more passengers (illegal passengers) until 8:25. I was quite annoyed. I hate it when drivers/conductors pull this personal revenue enhancement stunt. Once we got out of Zhangye, it took about another hour bumping along through roads of mixed quality but lovely pastoral scenery with the mountains in the background. About 9 km from Matisi itself, the bus stopped at a village crossroads and five of us who were temple/cave bound got out, obviously nowhere close to the temple itself. The bus driver handed some cash to a waiting car, and we crammed in to finish the journey, which took about 20 minutes. After a brief stop at the ticket gate to buy the two temple tickets (RMB 35 for the main Northern temples and RMB 20 for general entrance/Qiangfo temples), we drove another few km to the tourist “village” and staging area. I was quite surprised to see several big Chinese tour group buses, and a large number of private cars in the lot. I was expecting the place to be empty. I buddied up to one of my fellow bus passengers, a Tianjin retired lady, as I had decided she could be very useful to help with logistics. Our car driver gave us business cards in case we needed to recall him for a ride back to the crossroads to pick up a return bus.
There has clearly been a lot built up at Matisi in the last few years. Tianjin buddy (“TJ”) and I weren’t interested in the attractions above the parking lot (yurts to stay in, animal zoo, etc.). We headed instead to the white stupas/lookout point....which leads to the main access path to the cave. This took a 15-20 minute walk up a noticeable gradient. There were a large cluster of Chinese tourists at the stupas, mugging for cameras, getting in the way, being noisy and the usual Chinese behaviors. Some were paying to play dress up in Yugur costumes and get photos taken. (The Yugur outfits are quite attractive, by the way.) Besides that though, the views across the valley and to the nearby Qilian mountains were lovely. After a few minutes there, TJ and I walked further along the path to the caves, which were hewn out of the cliffside similar to Dunhuang Mogao Caves. This is known as the Northern Caves. The Southern Caves (a different cliff) is not open to the public.
At the bottom of the (relatively flat) path to these caves is a small parking lot and a ticket booth with ticket taker, so if you missed paying the RMB 35 up front, you can buy this ticket here. Up a goodly flight of steps, and we were free to explore the caves. The main feature cave (cavern) is partially open to the outside, and has a large center pillar section with huge space for a large Buddha (now missing) and a lot of worshippers. Then a Buddha hall to walk around the central pillar—unfortunately many of the statues have been damaged. The decoration here is more sculptural than painted as at Mogao, but much cruder overall. Some smaller ancillary caves flank the big one. Then there is a series of caves and tunnels cut into the rock, with steps of various steepness connecting them. One sort of worms their way through these various passages to the different levels, ending up at the top cave which has a screened (for safety) balcony installed, and is a worship area. The entire effect of the climb is that of being in a rock Fun House—probably best avoided for the claustrophobic and those afraid of heights. Frankly, it’s rather unsafe and what’s left of the cave paintings is in poor condition. TJ and I spent about 1.5 hours on the main site, which was plenty.
This was my overall impression of Matisi—unloved and pretty much unprotected and without resources. I hope the place is not too far gone to be redeemed. Based on photos I’ve seen that were taken 5-8 years ago, it looks like massive deterioration has occurred since then. There wasn’t really that much to this place, so TJ and I walked back to the parking lot and then decided to head down the road to the Qianfo (1000 Buddha) Temple which was a few kilometers back towards the entry gate. We had walked about a km when we realized that this place was really pretty far, fortunately we flagged down a passing car with a nice guy who didn’t mind taking us the 10 minutes down the road to Qianfo (for free). I liked Qianfo. First of all, it was quiet with no other tourists. Second, it had monks in residence (later talked to one who said 8 of them lived there). Third, it had a nice picturesque arrangement of “hanging” temples. Not really hanging, but carefully perched on the side of a cliff. Several of them. TJ and I walked up some decently-kept stairs to a few of them, took some pics, and then headed back out the gate to the road.
Creatively Returning to Zhangye
By then it was a little after noon and there was almost no traffic on the road. We decided to recall the driver who was agreeable to take us the 9 km back to the crossroads...for 15 RMB apiece. Robbery! But what can you do? There were no taxis waiting around at the official entry gate/ticket sales office. Back at the crossroads, we waited and waited...probably about 20 minutes. With a rather threatening rain cloud and thunder approaching. A nearby resident said “Bus to Zhangye should be by any minute” but never trust a rural person’s sense of time duration. We finally got lucky and two ladies in a small truck came by and asked where we were going. They fortunately were heading to Zhangye to pick up something. And had a nice passenger back seat for me and TJ to relax in. The drive back still took about 1.5 hours (mostly due to having to drive slow over a bumpy road) but we had quite a bit of fun chatting. And when they asked where we wanted to be let off, TJ and I coincidentally were staying at the same hotel...and the ladies’ destination was about 50 m from us! Best yet, they refused to charge us any more than the bus...or RMB 11.50 apiece. So all in all, while I don’t think Matisi is a recommended “must do” and especially not paying for a private car/guide out of Zhangye, transport for a total of RMB 23 and RMB 55 entry is an OK use of 6 hours of time, and I had a cultural experience as well. We got back to hotel about 15:00 pm.
I promptly headed off to the snack street to get a late lunch, then get some water and snacks for bus ride the next day. Back to hotel for a rest. Decided to head out again about 19:00 pm for a last snack and photo session, ended up in the square outside the Workers Cultural Park. Got some spicy grilled beans and potatoes, then spotted a foreigner nearby having a beer; he nodded at me and smiled. Headed over there and found out the beers were cold, bought us one apiece and proceeded to sit down and chat. Turns out he was a young American Peace Corps volunteer assigned to Zhangye to teach English (the only type of program China allows PC to do in country). He was winding up 2 years and had 4 weeks to go before heading back to USA and law school. Seemed like a smart kid, and definitely shared some of his (dis)illusions about the PC program in China. It was relaxing to be able to speak English for a while with somebody equally fluent. I had to chuckle to myself: of the long list of Silk Road travelers over the millenia, we've had traders, adventurers, monks and religious proselytizers, warriors, etc etc....and now Peace Corps Volunteers.
We said our goodbyes about 21:00, nearly dark, and I headed back to hotel for some final reflections. I was sorry to be saying goodbye to Zhangye...it really is a neat little town.
Last edited by jiejie; Sep 3, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Sep 5, 2012, 10:56 pm
#63
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: UA GS>1K>Nothing; DL DM 2MM; AS 75K>Nothing>MVP
Posts: 9,341
Best night's sleep I ever had in my life was in a yurt at Karkul. An early morning dip in the lake is a great way to get cleaned up and very refreshing!
Sep 6, 2012, 6:52 am
#64
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,966
pictures, please!
jiejie: your trip report is awesome, but I really want pics. While you stated that pics are difficult to load in country, I'm not buying it (I would even pay $2 to load them on my mifi device). Simply put, your trip was amazing, and we want to see photos. For the past 6 years, people have been asking us where to go in China, apart from BJ/SH. I like the Silk Road, but without photos, we're not going to convince anyone.
Sep 6, 2012, 10:10 am
#65
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
jiejie: your trip report is awesome, but I really want pics. While you stated that pics are difficult to load in country, I'm not buying it (I would even pay $2 to load them on my mifi device). Simply put, your trip was amazing, and we want to see photos. For the past 6 years, people have been asking us where to go in China, apart from BJ/SH. I like the Silk Road, but without photos, we're not going to convince anyone.
Sep 6, 2012, 7:58 pm
#66
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Northern Italian Lakes
Programs: BA, *A, Hertz Goldstar, Mucci wannabee, Waitrose, safari Oleg
Posts: 1,545
Thank you so much for such a wonderful report! especially that you care so much to note, where you think there may be only a small time window to see some of the things.....
Sep 13, 2012, 12:32 am
#67
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Ending the Silk Road: Xining
It’s Wednesday the Fourth of July. The days blend together so this goes almost right by me. Out here and unlike Beijing or Shanghai, there are no Americans to have an impromptu festa with. I was up early to get packed and catch my 07:00 bus to Xining. I just love it when there’s only a 2 minute walk from hotel to bus station! One of the reasons that the Jinshun hotel, for all its eccentricities, is actually a decent and convenient place for RMB 180 a night. I will miss their friendliness.
The bus ride from Zhangye to Xining was on a nice vehicle and once we fought our way for the first 30 minutes out of Zhangye city, we went through absolutely beautiful scenery—first the rolling hills carpeted by yellow canola in flower, interspersed with other crops, then we got into the Qilian Mountains. I was unhappy that I had ended up on the “wrong” (sunny) side of the bus, and the bus windows were a bit dirty, which did not make for fruitful drive-by photography. A few shots came out pretty well, and they’ll have to do. The drive was winding but on good road, and not particularly scary or unsafe. We had valleys, small river gorges, a few snow caps in distance (probably better viewing for that in May or early June). Herders leading their sheep, goats, and yaks across the road. Certainly I recommend this as one of the most scenic roads I have been on in China so far.
Although the journey should have taken about 6.75 or 7 hours, it ended up taking a little longer as we spent 30 minutes stopped outside a tunnel, where the Chinese had decided to erect a metal framework for traffic signs and banners, during peak road travel hours. This tunnel marks the switch from Gansu to Qinghai, and is preceded on the Gansu side by a series of steep and scary switchbacks, and similarly—except descending—on the the Qinghai side. There’s actually pretty scenery on the Qinghai side as well. It’s only when you get about 1.5 hours out of Xining city that it starts to get built up with development and more typical boring Chinese suburbia. We arrived in Xining’s old Jianguo Lu Bus Station at 14:30. A horrible, dirty, and chaotic station absolutely jam packed with people inside and out. Lots of poor people dirty people, dodgy people. Definitely a place to watch out for pickpockets. One of the worst bus stations I’ve seen to date in China. It had obviously rained hard earlier that day, as huge puddles of standing water were out in the street in front of the station. I had to schlep my stuff down the sidewalk to find an access to the street that wasn’t covered in water. Got a taxi to the hotel, which was quite a distance away. Xining is a surprisingly large city, much bigger than I’d imagined.
I had really chosen poorly at hotels—though to be sure, I didn’t seem to have a lot of choice as a lot of places I’d rather have stayed were full up. The Xibai Hotel is on a very busy commercial street—possibly the biggest commercial corner in the City near the Peoples’ Park. And unfortunately, taxis are not allowed on the street in front of it. The closest he could get me still left me with about 200-300 meters to walk, picking my way through massive crowds. Finally got to lobby, checked in (weird that they didn’t want to copy my passport) and headed up to room. On first glance, my room, which faced the back and not the noisy boulevard, seemed reasonably spacious and sunny. Though with that worn and dirty carpet that is common in all these Chinese hotels. And no a/c, which I learned soon after was pretty typical for Xining hotels. It’s actually a very comfortable air temperature outside despite being midsummer, and it felt like the evening temps would drop quite a bit, making a/c an unneeded embellishment.
After a quick settle in by 16:00, I set out to grab a quick bite—at KFC next door (don’t shoot me!)--then walked around for a couple of hours or so. Xining proved to be hard to grasp the essence of, which for me is an unusual occurrence with respect to Chinese cities. It’s not friendly but not unfriendly—more of a “closed-off” feeling and people are not given to overt curiosity, even though both resident and visiting foreigners are pretty sparse here. Much of Xining also seems very new, and perhaps there is an influx of Chinese from other provinces, which would square with the less cohesive vibe I was getting.
The capital of Qinghai province, Xining, while an important location on the old Silk Road, doesn’t have much left that celebrates that fact. In fact, the city itself is curiously devoid of much in the way of tourist sites at all. Located on the Qinghai plateau, the city helped link up the Hexi Corridor part of the Silk Road with the spur road that went up to the Tibetan plateau (a function which it still serves today). Now, it’s a modern Chinese boomtown, though from the looks of the fairly clean air, not too much super-heavy industry like that of Lanzhou.
My rambles took me east was a commercial area, all the way down to the large Dongguan Mosque. Then back again and around the huge Park. This was a lot of fun, as it was a beautiful blue sky early evening, and half of Xining residents had come out to play. There were families with rollerblading kids, dancers, a singer on stage, lots of fun stuff and a nice atmosphere. I decided that Xining might actually be OK after all, just required a bit more effort for an outsider to peel back the layers. Dinner time at hand, I had a hankering for something Italian but was unsuccessful in my search for the famed Casa Mia restaurant (owned by a US expat) so returned to near my hotel to some of the little stalls and dives—lots of Muslim food here as well as Chinese. Xining seems to have an adequate supply of decent eats.
Later in the evening, I found out just how bad this hotel was for me, when about 9:00 p.m., the karaoke started up on the 7th floor and echoed all through the back court and up. With no a/c or noisy fan to white-noise this, I knew this was going to be bad. Decided to bail the next morning, even though I’d paid for two nights, and using ctrip got a booking at the Jinjiang Inn Wusi, which had previously listed as full. Made a vow to myself to get up early, check out and bail out of this hotel by 7 a.m. so I could get a pre-rush hour taxi. I stuffed earplugs in my ears but suffered until about 1:30 or 2:00 am, getting angrier and angrier at the horrible yowling going on downstairs. From what I heard, not a person in the place could remotely carry a tune.
From the outset, I wasn’t sure how this Silk Road trip would end up—I guess a big Finale fireworks display would have been great. Instead, the trip ended up with a modern Chinese cultural phenomenon—the KTV karaoke singfest. I surely hoped that Marco Polo didn’t have to put up with a 12th century version of this on his journeys!
My next journey would begin immediately the next day: a swing through the Tibetan highlands between Xining and Chengdu. This will be the subject of another Jiejie adventure of another thread. Next on this thread: a Trip Summary.
The bus ride from Zhangye to Xining was on a nice vehicle and once we fought our way for the first 30 minutes out of Zhangye city, we went through absolutely beautiful scenery—first the rolling hills carpeted by yellow canola in flower, interspersed with other crops, then we got into the Qilian Mountains. I was unhappy that I had ended up on the “wrong” (sunny) side of the bus, and the bus windows were a bit dirty, which did not make for fruitful drive-by photography. A few shots came out pretty well, and they’ll have to do. The drive was winding but on good road, and not particularly scary or unsafe. We had valleys, small river gorges, a few snow caps in distance (probably better viewing for that in May or early June). Herders leading their sheep, goats, and yaks across the road. Certainly I recommend this as one of the most scenic roads I have been on in China so far.
Although the journey should have taken about 6.75 or 7 hours, it ended up taking a little longer as we spent 30 minutes stopped outside a tunnel, where the Chinese had decided to erect a metal framework for traffic signs and banners, during peak road travel hours. This tunnel marks the switch from Gansu to Qinghai, and is preceded on the Gansu side by a series of steep and scary switchbacks, and similarly—except descending—on the the Qinghai side. There’s actually pretty scenery on the Qinghai side as well. It’s only when you get about 1.5 hours out of Xining city that it starts to get built up with development and more typical boring Chinese suburbia. We arrived in Xining’s old Jianguo Lu Bus Station at 14:30. A horrible, dirty, and chaotic station absolutely jam packed with people inside and out. Lots of poor people dirty people, dodgy people. Definitely a place to watch out for pickpockets. One of the worst bus stations I’ve seen to date in China. It had obviously rained hard earlier that day, as huge puddles of standing water were out in the street in front of the station. I had to schlep my stuff down the sidewalk to find an access to the street that wasn’t covered in water. Got a taxi to the hotel, which was quite a distance away. Xining is a surprisingly large city, much bigger than I’d imagined.
I had really chosen poorly at hotels—though to be sure, I didn’t seem to have a lot of choice as a lot of places I’d rather have stayed were full up. The Xibai Hotel is on a very busy commercial street—possibly the biggest commercial corner in the City near the Peoples’ Park. And unfortunately, taxis are not allowed on the street in front of it. The closest he could get me still left me with about 200-300 meters to walk, picking my way through massive crowds. Finally got to lobby, checked in (weird that they didn’t want to copy my passport) and headed up to room. On first glance, my room, which faced the back and not the noisy boulevard, seemed reasonably spacious and sunny. Though with that worn and dirty carpet that is common in all these Chinese hotels. And no a/c, which I learned soon after was pretty typical for Xining hotels. It’s actually a very comfortable air temperature outside despite being midsummer, and it felt like the evening temps would drop quite a bit, making a/c an unneeded embellishment.
After a quick settle in by 16:00, I set out to grab a quick bite—at KFC next door (don’t shoot me!)--then walked around for a couple of hours or so. Xining proved to be hard to grasp the essence of, which for me is an unusual occurrence with respect to Chinese cities. It’s not friendly but not unfriendly—more of a “closed-off” feeling and people are not given to overt curiosity, even though both resident and visiting foreigners are pretty sparse here. Much of Xining also seems very new, and perhaps there is an influx of Chinese from other provinces, which would square with the less cohesive vibe I was getting.
The capital of Qinghai province, Xining, while an important location on the old Silk Road, doesn’t have much left that celebrates that fact. In fact, the city itself is curiously devoid of much in the way of tourist sites at all. Located on the Qinghai plateau, the city helped link up the Hexi Corridor part of the Silk Road with the spur road that went up to the Tibetan plateau (a function which it still serves today). Now, it’s a modern Chinese boomtown, though from the looks of the fairly clean air, not too much super-heavy industry like that of Lanzhou.
My rambles took me east was a commercial area, all the way down to the large Dongguan Mosque. Then back again and around the huge Park. This was a lot of fun, as it was a beautiful blue sky early evening, and half of Xining residents had come out to play. There were families with rollerblading kids, dancers, a singer on stage, lots of fun stuff and a nice atmosphere. I decided that Xining might actually be OK after all, just required a bit more effort for an outsider to peel back the layers. Dinner time at hand, I had a hankering for something Italian but was unsuccessful in my search for the famed Casa Mia restaurant (owned by a US expat) so returned to near my hotel to some of the little stalls and dives—lots of Muslim food here as well as Chinese. Xining seems to have an adequate supply of decent eats.
Later in the evening, I found out just how bad this hotel was for me, when about 9:00 p.m., the karaoke started up on the 7th floor and echoed all through the back court and up. With no a/c or noisy fan to white-noise this, I knew this was going to be bad. Decided to bail the next morning, even though I’d paid for two nights, and using ctrip got a booking at the Jinjiang Inn Wusi, which had previously listed as full. Made a vow to myself to get up early, check out and bail out of this hotel by 7 a.m. so I could get a pre-rush hour taxi. I stuffed earplugs in my ears but suffered until about 1:30 or 2:00 am, getting angrier and angrier at the horrible yowling going on downstairs. From what I heard, not a person in the place could remotely carry a tune.
From the outset, I wasn’t sure how this Silk Road trip would end up—I guess a big Finale fireworks display would have been great. Instead, the trip ended up with a modern Chinese cultural phenomenon—the KTV karaoke singfest. I surely hoped that Marco Polo didn’t have to put up with a 12th century version of this on his journeys!
My next journey would begin immediately the next day: a swing through the Tibetan highlands between Xining and Chengdu. This will be the subject of another Jiejie adventure of another thread. Next on this thread: a Trip Summary.
Sep 13, 2012, 6:07 pm
#68
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Trip Summary
Following is my quick summation of various thoughts:
A. Itinerary and Timing
B. Logistics and Advance Preparation
C. Hotels
D. Miscellaneous.--Language and Clothing Issues
E. Cost Breakdown
Itinerary and Timing
--Silk Road is essentially a linear journey and it’s most efficient to set up your travel to this region with this in mind;
--Air travel can be expensive, so overland (primarily by train) in at least one direction allows you to see more stops for less cost.
--Doesn’t matter whether you travel eastbound or westbound, but it’s best to get a representative sampling of sites. This is what makes it different than a Xinjiang-only trip.
--It makes sense to allot at least two full weeks for travel in this region, and three is better.
--If you have the time and interest, it’s possible to do the China part of the Silk Road then continue on to central Asia (particularly Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan) then on to Europe, Indian subcontinent, or Middle East from there. Also possible in reverse. Fly-ins can investigate Urumqi as their starting point then work their way eastbound.
--Best time to visit is June through September but summer will be very hot in places like Turpan, Urumqi, and Kashgar. More pleasant in the uplands. Winter is brutal so not recommended for travel. April, May, and October can be cool or cold, but doable for travel if you have the requisite clothing.
--Because Gansu and Xinjiang are still not too popular with Chinese domestic tourists, most of the sights of interest are not too inundated, even during Chinese holiday periods. Northern Xinjiang is much more popular than Southern/Southwest Xinjiang with the Han traveler. In Gansu Hexi Corridor, Dunhuang (Caves, Dunes) and Jiayuguan Fort are somewhat popular but most other places have few visitors.
Logistics and Advance Preparation
--Definitely a journey that benefits from advance homework: reading up on the various possible stopovers, general historical background, etc.
--Good descriptive material is difficult to find once in China, especially in English language, so bring in some sort of guidebook purchased on the outside. Augment this with printouts from various traveler websites and forums that are fairly recent. Up-to-date local maps are generally available in each town or city, but are likely to be only in Chinese.
--The Silk Road is also one part of China where advance purchasing of critical transportation tickets, arrangements of drivers for subregional tours, hotel bookings, etc, is a good idea. Unlike the East, where if Option A doesn’t pan out, you can move to a pretty solid Option B or C in real-time, the Silk Road doesn’t always have reasonable alternatives due to lack of infrastructure, availability, or capacity.
--No need to plan each day down to minutiae, but having a really good blockout of an overall itinerary by days, and figuring out the intercity connection details in advance, will produce a lot less stress during the actual travels.
--Keep up to date on any special paperwork or permits that may be required, particularly if traveling to the KKH or any international border area.
--Except for Xi’an, Lanzhou, and Urumqi, don’t depend on being able to find quality replacements or extras for your electronic gizmos on the Silk Road. Take along an extra camera battery (and keep it charged up), also memory card(s). If doing a KKH or Taklamakan desert trip, recharging locations for cameras, mobile phones, etc. can be difficult to find. Take along a solar charger with appropriate plug-ins, or something that connects to a car cigarette lighter.
--A smartphone (or a 3G dongle for a laptop) for Internet access can be very useful throughout this region, as wired/wireless internet can be either lackluster or nonexistent. Internet cafes (wangbas) seemed to not be as prevalent as in eastern Chinese cities.
--Cash: Urumqi is your best bet for ATM fill-ups, or any in-person services you may need while on the Silk Road west of Lanzhou. In advance of a Silk Road trip, check out locations for branches of your favorite Chinese banks in the cities on your route. Assuming they will be sparse and you will need to travel with more cash than normal. Take precautions against loss and theft.
Hotels
I used hotels with private room (usually a double) and bath, generally simple but clean and comfortable. Except where noted, all had aircon, 24-hour hot water, TV (generally Chinese only) and free internet (wired) if they had it. Cost per night all-in, (RMB). Reservation mostly by online booking, agent as noted in parentheses, in general only about a week before arrival, sometimes only a couple of days before. All were pay-at-hotel, not prepaid.
I spent a total of 21 nights on the road on this trip:
16 in a hotel room at an average of RMB 245 per night.
2 in lodging included as part of a prearranged tour, likely very cheap
3 on overnight sleeper trains.
Hotel specifics follow as an Appendix to this Trip Summary.
Language Issues
--Mandarin would be helpful on this trip from Gansu and points east, and also in Urumqi and Turpan. There are way fewer speakers of even rudimentary English out in these parts, so if your Mandarin is non-existent and you’re committed to doing things independently, you’ll need to take along a phrasebook (with Chinese characters as well as pinyin and English). And take along a lot of patience.
--Alternatively, have a tour company set up a meet-and-greet at your transportation ingress point, with a local guide who speaks some English—this is probably most helpful in Zhangye and Turpan, maybe less necessary in Jiayuguan and Dunhuang where everybody knows where you’ll want to be going and you can point to the characters. Similar situation in Urumqi which is no different to any other Chinese big city as far as communication challenges. However, in the southern part of Xinjiang, it doesn’t help at all, and English is just as manageable for the non-Uighur speaker. Speakers of any Turkic-based language might actually be able to make some headway though, as Uighur is part of the family.
Clothing Issues
--The Gansu Hexi Corridor is no different from other Chinese regions for both male and female visitors. I don’t recall seeing grown men wear shorts and suggest foregoing these in favor of long pants. Short sleeved shirts are acceptable. Similarly, women (except for local Muslims) do not dress much differently from other parts of central and northern China. Long pants, long skirts, capris are all OK.
--In Xinjiang, not much different for men, but for visiting ladies--at least in Turpan and southern/southwestern Xinjiang including Kashgar--please cover your legs and sometimes your arms. The local women don’t normally wear abayas, but do wear long pants or long skirts, full arm covering, and headgear similar to what you’d see in Malaysia.
--Long cotton pants (no capris) or long ankle skirt would be acceptable. For arms, I was most comfortable wearing a loose cotton long-sleeved shirt where the sleeves could be rolled up or down at will. In the Muslim areas, sleeves went down; in city areas that were mixed with Chinese, rolled them up. Neckline needs to be higher or buttoned up a bit but not Victorian...no cleavages or tight-fitting bustiers, please. Alternatively, wear a short-sleeved T-shirt with a loose cotton long-sleeve gauzy overblouse. You’ll also find that in addition to garnering local respect, loose long-sleeves will help keep you from getting sunburned.
--Open sandals are OK for your feet though good walking shoes may be more adviseable. Closed shoes are needed for any sort of hiking, and in mountain areas where it will be too cold for sandals.
--Mosque visits (anywhere, not just Xinjiang): ladies, you need a headscarf. Either bring one or buy in the market—very cheap.
--Mountain visits: even in summer, cool at day and downright cold at night. You need long pants and a jacket/windbreaker. Sometimes the desert can also get cool at night.
Trip Costs
Commercially-packaged Silk Road trips are generally quite expensive compared to those offered in Eastern China. Independently traveling the Silk Road, even picking up local guides where it makes sense, is considerably more cost-effective, though even independent travel on the Silk Road is generally more expensive than in elsewhere in China.
The total costs for this trip were (at summer 2012 exchange rates), the equivalent of USD 2,170 for everything except souvenirs. This covered a 20 day period from June 15 to July 4 inclusive, plus an extra overnight positioning train ride from Beijing to Xi’an. In percentage terms, this overall cost broke down to (rounded to nearest $5):
1) Intercity Travel, about $520 = 24%
2) Local Transportation, $215 = 10%
3) Prearranged Inclusive Tours, $370 = 17%
4) Accommodation, $615 = 28%
5) Food and Drink, $255 = 12%
6) Entry Fees, $125 = 6%
7) Miscellaneous, $70 = 3%
Additional cost details are in an Appendix which follows; might be helpful to anybody planning an independent trip, or wanting to compare against a packaged Silk Road tour.
Final Word
This is a spectacular and memorable trip, even for the worldly well-traveled. But as always, it’s worth reiterating Jiejie’s two most important rules:
1) Always keep enough money on you. Cash. Cash = options, even on short notice.
2) Always have Plan B.
A. Itinerary and Timing
B. Logistics and Advance Preparation
C. Hotels
D. Miscellaneous.--Language and Clothing Issues
E. Cost Breakdown
Itinerary and Timing
--Silk Road is essentially a linear journey and it’s most efficient to set up your travel to this region with this in mind;
--Air travel can be expensive, so overland (primarily by train) in at least one direction allows you to see more stops for less cost.
--Doesn’t matter whether you travel eastbound or westbound, but it’s best to get a representative sampling of sites. This is what makes it different than a Xinjiang-only trip.
--It makes sense to allot at least two full weeks for travel in this region, and three is better.
--If you have the time and interest, it’s possible to do the China part of the Silk Road then continue on to central Asia (particularly Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan) then on to Europe, Indian subcontinent, or Middle East from there. Also possible in reverse. Fly-ins can investigate Urumqi as their starting point then work their way eastbound.
--Best time to visit is June through September but summer will be very hot in places like Turpan, Urumqi, and Kashgar. More pleasant in the uplands. Winter is brutal so not recommended for travel. April, May, and October can be cool or cold, but doable for travel if you have the requisite clothing.
--Because Gansu and Xinjiang are still not too popular with Chinese domestic tourists, most of the sights of interest are not too inundated, even during Chinese holiday periods. Northern Xinjiang is much more popular than Southern/Southwest Xinjiang with the Han traveler. In Gansu Hexi Corridor, Dunhuang (Caves, Dunes) and Jiayuguan Fort are somewhat popular but most other places have few visitors.
Logistics and Advance Preparation
--Definitely a journey that benefits from advance homework: reading up on the various possible stopovers, general historical background, etc.
--Good descriptive material is difficult to find once in China, especially in English language, so bring in some sort of guidebook purchased on the outside. Augment this with printouts from various traveler websites and forums that are fairly recent. Up-to-date local maps are generally available in each town or city, but are likely to be only in Chinese.
--The Silk Road is also one part of China where advance purchasing of critical transportation tickets, arrangements of drivers for subregional tours, hotel bookings, etc, is a good idea. Unlike the East, where if Option A doesn’t pan out, you can move to a pretty solid Option B or C in real-time, the Silk Road doesn’t always have reasonable alternatives due to lack of infrastructure, availability, or capacity.
--No need to plan each day down to minutiae, but having a really good blockout of an overall itinerary by days, and figuring out the intercity connection details in advance, will produce a lot less stress during the actual travels.
--Keep up to date on any special paperwork or permits that may be required, particularly if traveling to the KKH or any international border area.
--Except for Xi’an, Lanzhou, and Urumqi, don’t depend on being able to find quality replacements or extras for your electronic gizmos on the Silk Road. Take along an extra camera battery (and keep it charged up), also memory card(s). If doing a KKH or Taklamakan desert trip, recharging locations for cameras, mobile phones, etc. can be difficult to find. Take along a solar charger with appropriate plug-ins, or something that connects to a car cigarette lighter.
--A smartphone (or a 3G dongle for a laptop) for Internet access can be very useful throughout this region, as wired/wireless internet can be either lackluster or nonexistent. Internet cafes (wangbas) seemed to not be as prevalent as in eastern Chinese cities.
--Cash: Urumqi is your best bet for ATM fill-ups, or any in-person services you may need while on the Silk Road west of Lanzhou. In advance of a Silk Road trip, check out locations for branches of your favorite Chinese banks in the cities on your route. Assuming they will be sparse and you will need to travel with more cash than normal. Take precautions against loss and theft.
Hotels
I used hotels with private room (usually a double) and bath, generally simple but clean and comfortable. Except where noted, all had aircon, 24-hour hot water, TV (generally Chinese only) and free internet (wired) if they had it. Cost per night all-in, (RMB). Reservation mostly by online booking, agent as noted in parentheses, in general only about a week before arrival, sometimes only a couple of days before. All were pay-at-hotel, not prepaid.
I spent a total of 21 nights on the road on this trip:
16 in a hotel room at an average of RMB 245 per night.
2 in lodging included as part of a prearranged tour, likely very cheap
3 on overnight sleeper trains.
Hotel specifics follow as an Appendix to this Trip Summary.
Language Issues
--Mandarin would be helpful on this trip from Gansu and points east, and also in Urumqi and Turpan. There are way fewer speakers of even rudimentary English out in these parts, so if your Mandarin is non-existent and you’re committed to doing things independently, you’ll need to take along a phrasebook (with Chinese characters as well as pinyin and English). And take along a lot of patience.
--Alternatively, have a tour company set up a meet-and-greet at your transportation ingress point, with a local guide who speaks some English—this is probably most helpful in Zhangye and Turpan, maybe less necessary in Jiayuguan and Dunhuang where everybody knows where you’ll want to be going and you can point to the characters. Similar situation in Urumqi which is no different to any other Chinese big city as far as communication challenges. However, in the southern part of Xinjiang, it doesn’t help at all, and English is just as manageable for the non-Uighur speaker. Speakers of any Turkic-based language might actually be able to make some headway though, as Uighur is part of the family.
Clothing Issues
--The Gansu Hexi Corridor is no different from other Chinese regions for both male and female visitors. I don’t recall seeing grown men wear shorts and suggest foregoing these in favor of long pants. Short sleeved shirts are acceptable. Similarly, women (except for local Muslims) do not dress much differently from other parts of central and northern China. Long pants, long skirts, capris are all OK.
--In Xinjiang, not much different for men, but for visiting ladies--at least in Turpan and southern/southwestern Xinjiang including Kashgar--please cover your legs and sometimes your arms. The local women don’t normally wear abayas, but do wear long pants or long skirts, full arm covering, and headgear similar to what you’d see in Malaysia.
--Long cotton pants (no capris) or long ankle skirt would be acceptable. For arms, I was most comfortable wearing a loose cotton long-sleeved shirt where the sleeves could be rolled up or down at will. In the Muslim areas, sleeves went down; in city areas that were mixed with Chinese, rolled them up. Neckline needs to be higher or buttoned up a bit but not Victorian...no cleavages or tight-fitting bustiers, please. Alternatively, wear a short-sleeved T-shirt with a loose cotton long-sleeve gauzy overblouse. You’ll also find that in addition to garnering local respect, loose long-sleeves will help keep you from getting sunburned.
--Open sandals are OK for your feet though good walking shoes may be more adviseable. Closed shoes are needed for any sort of hiking, and in mountain areas where it will be too cold for sandals.
--Mosque visits (anywhere, not just Xinjiang): ladies, you need a headscarf. Either bring one or buy in the market—very cheap.
--Mountain visits: even in summer, cool at day and downright cold at night. You need long pants and a jacket/windbreaker. Sometimes the desert can also get cool at night.
Trip Costs
Commercially-packaged Silk Road trips are generally quite expensive compared to those offered in Eastern China. Independently traveling the Silk Road, even picking up local guides where it makes sense, is considerably more cost-effective, though even independent travel on the Silk Road is generally more expensive than in elsewhere in China.
The total costs for this trip were (at summer 2012 exchange rates), the equivalent of USD 2,170 for everything except souvenirs. This covered a 20 day period from June 15 to July 4 inclusive, plus an extra overnight positioning train ride from Beijing to Xi’an. In percentage terms, this overall cost broke down to (rounded to nearest $5):
1) Intercity Travel, about $520 = 24%
2) Local Transportation, $215 = 10%
3) Prearranged Inclusive Tours, $370 = 17%
4) Accommodation, $615 = 28%
5) Food and Drink, $255 = 12%
6) Entry Fees, $125 = 6%
7) Miscellaneous, $70 = 3%
Additional cost details are in an Appendix which follows; might be helpful to anybody planning an independent trip, or wanting to compare against a packaged Silk Road tour.
Final Word
This is a spectacular and memorable trip, even for the worldly well-traveled. But as always, it’s worth reiterating Jiejie’s two most important rules:
1) Always keep enough money on you. Cash. Cash = options, even on short notice.
2) Always have Plan B.
Sep 13, 2012, 6:10 pm
#69
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Appendices: Hotel Details and Cost Breakdowns
These are the hotels I used for the trip, and methods of booking.
Xi’an x 2 nights—Jinjiang Inn Jiefang Lu (219). One of my favorite Chinese motel-style chains, it’s never failed me in city after city. (elong.net)
Lanzhou x 1 night—JiaRun Jiudian (Jiarun Holiday Hotel) (200). Past its prime and the location is merely OK. Skip it. (sinohotel.com)
Zhangye x 2 nights—Jinshun Binguan (180). Not bad in a town with very few acceptable places from a westerner’s point of view—but the shower situation isn’t ideal for most. (taxi driver referral, then later round 2 visit by direct phone)
Jiayuguan x 1 night + very late checkout extension—Huili Business Hotel (238). OK room, irritating shower, location meh in a Meh town. (ctrip.com)
Turpan x 1 night—Grand Turpan Hotel (260). Decent place in a town not noted for many good hotels. Great location. And good aircon, which is a high priority in Turpan. (sinohotel.com)
Urumqi x 1 night—Super8 Bayinhe (318). A very nice Super8, very popular and often booked out. I liked the location, very neat neighborhood. (elong.net)
Kashgar x 1 night—Western Holiday Inn (Xiyu Jiare) (318). Surprisingly decent Chinese hotel right in middle of town. Another city with generally lackluster hotels, this might be one of the better of the mid-range ones. (elong.net)
Tashkorgan x 1 night—Traffic Hotel. (estim RMB 200 if booked separately). Very simple and a very tiny bathroom, but it is clean enough and will do for a night. No air-con but not needed in this town—cool in day and cold at night even in summer. (included in KKH tour)
Karakul x 1 night—local rockhouse or yurt (estim under RMB100 if showing up independently and needing shelter). Primitive and no bathroom. Communal stay with a local family. Some people will find this sort of thing OK for the night; others will cringe. (included in KKH tour)
Kashgar x 1 night—Seman Hotel (240). An old standby and rather colorful. I found it not bad at all. Looked like heaven compared to the yurt! (arranged by my KKH tour provider)
Urumqi x 1 night—Super8 Bayinhe (yes again, 318). (elong.net)
Dunhuang x 2 nights—Dunhuang Hotel (Dunhuang Fandian) (238). Pretty decent hotel right in middle of town, good location. No elevator though. (ctrip.com)
Zhangye x 2 nights—Jinshun Binguan again. (180). (by direct phone)
Xining x 1 night—Xibai Bingguan. Room isn’t so bad, but the clientele tends to be young and noisy, and there’s that KTV/karaoke parlor.....Location good but access is tough. Skip it. (elong.net)
Cost Components
Refer back to the overall summary numbers above. Additional comments on cost components, useful if you are planning an independent trip:
1) Intercity detail: two flights (Urumqi-Kashgar-Urumqi RMB 1180) accounted for 9% percentage points, six train journeys (RMB 1,744) for 13%, three bus rides (RMB 345) for 2%. Trains were all soft sleeper lower berth except for a shorter trip done in soft seat. All bus rides included purchase of two seats.
2) Local transportation included drivers (without guide) hired for the day or part-day for round-trips out of a city base, which occurred at Zhangye, Jiayuguan, and Turpan.
3) It is uncommon for me to do this and therefore even include this cost category, but I felt that in the Kashgar area, it was a convenience for logistics and a necessity for getting maximum enrichment value out of the time spent. For the better part of 4 days (Kashgar city tour, then 3 days Karakoram Highway) which is 20% of the overall trip days, a parallel cost of 17% of the overall trip isn’t too bad, and included airport pick-up and drop-off to boot. My city trip for most of one day was private/solo, and the KKH trip shared with one other guest.
4) Local independent or China-based chains were used. With the exception of Xi’an and Urumqi, there are essentially no international-branded hotels on the Silk Road right now, so the traveler will have to make do with lesser categories of lodging. Without exception, all my rooms were double (set up for two people) with private bath. More detail under “Hotel” section below.
5) I eat mostly at local Chinese neighborhood-type places which are inexpensive, but certainly treated myself to western meals on occasion, for change of pace, as well as an occasional beer or two. The average daily cost on this trip averaged less than USD 13 per day, and this number included provisions at local supermarkets, and innumerable liters of bottled water!
6) Entry fees on this trip were a reasonable cost component. I did not have to make any decisions to forego something based on cost...just let my interest and mood be my guide. The most expensive single entry fee is the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang (RMB 180 for English guide), followed by the Jiayuguan 3-site combined ticket at RMB 120. The Terracotta Warriors would have been a pricey excursion had I not already seen them previously. Most everything else is still reasonably priced, unlike Eastern China.
7) Laundry, train porters, local maps, donkey cart ride at Gaochang (Turpan) and those inevitable objects, you forget to bring and have to field-procure, like umbrellas and windbreakers! A part of every trip, the Silk Road is not unique in that respect.
Xi’an x 2 nights—Jinjiang Inn Jiefang Lu (219). One of my favorite Chinese motel-style chains, it’s never failed me in city after city. (elong.net)
Lanzhou x 1 night—JiaRun Jiudian (Jiarun Holiday Hotel) (200). Past its prime and the location is merely OK. Skip it. (sinohotel.com)
Zhangye x 2 nights—Jinshun Binguan (180). Not bad in a town with very few acceptable places from a westerner’s point of view—but the shower situation isn’t ideal for most. (taxi driver referral, then later round 2 visit by direct phone)
Jiayuguan x 1 night + very late checkout extension—Huili Business Hotel (238). OK room, irritating shower, location meh in a Meh town. (ctrip.com)
Turpan x 1 night—Grand Turpan Hotel (260). Decent place in a town not noted for many good hotels. Great location. And good aircon, which is a high priority in Turpan. (sinohotel.com)
Urumqi x 1 night—Super8 Bayinhe (318). A very nice Super8, very popular and often booked out. I liked the location, very neat neighborhood. (elong.net)
Kashgar x 1 night—Western Holiday Inn (Xiyu Jiare) (318). Surprisingly decent Chinese hotel right in middle of town. Another city with generally lackluster hotels, this might be one of the better of the mid-range ones. (elong.net)
Tashkorgan x 1 night—Traffic Hotel. (estim RMB 200 if booked separately). Very simple and a very tiny bathroom, but it is clean enough and will do for a night. No air-con but not needed in this town—cool in day and cold at night even in summer. (included in KKH tour)
Karakul x 1 night—local rockhouse or yurt (estim under RMB100 if showing up independently and needing shelter). Primitive and no bathroom. Communal stay with a local family. Some people will find this sort of thing OK for the night; others will cringe. (included in KKH tour)
Kashgar x 1 night—Seman Hotel (240). An old standby and rather colorful. I found it not bad at all. Looked like heaven compared to the yurt! (arranged by my KKH tour provider)
Urumqi x 1 night—Super8 Bayinhe (yes again, 318). (elong.net)
Dunhuang x 2 nights—Dunhuang Hotel (Dunhuang Fandian) (238). Pretty decent hotel right in middle of town, good location. No elevator though. (ctrip.com)
Zhangye x 2 nights—Jinshun Binguan again. (180). (by direct phone)
Xining x 1 night—Xibai Bingguan. Room isn’t so bad, but the clientele tends to be young and noisy, and there’s that KTV/karaoke parlor.....Location good but access is tough. Skip it. (elong.net)
Cost Components
Refer back to the overall summary numbers above. Additional comments on cost components, useful if you are planning an independent trip:
1) Intercity detail: two flights (Urumqi-Kashgar-Urumqi RMB 1180) accounted for 9% percentage points, six train journeys (RMB 1,744) for 13%, three bus rides (RMB 345) for 2%. Trains were all soft sleeper lower berth except for a shorter trip done in soft seat. All bus rides included purchase of two seats.
2) Local transportation included drivers (without guide) hired for the day or part-day for round-trips out of a city base, which occurred at Zhangye, Jiayuguan, and Turpan.
3) It is uncommon for me to do this and therefore even include this cost category, but I felt that in the Kashgar area, it was a convenience for logistics and a necessity for getting maximum enrichment value out of the time spent. For the better part of 4 days (Kashgar city tour, then 3 days Karakoram Highway) which is 20% of the overall trip days, a parallel cost of 17% of the overall trip isn’t too bad, and included airport pick-up and drop-off to boot. My city trip for most of one day was private/solo, and the KKH trip shared with one other guest.
4) Local independent or China-based chains were used. With the exception of Xi’an and Urumqi, there are essentially no international-branded hotels on the Silk Road right now, so the traveler will have to make do with lesser categories of lodging. Without exception, all my rooms were double (set up for two people) with private bath. More detail under “Hotel” section below.
5) I eat mostly at local Chinese neighborhood-type places which are inexpensive, but certainly treated myself to western meals on occasion, for change of pace, as well as an occasional beer or two. The average daily cost on this trip averaged less than USD 13 per day, and this number included provisions at local supermarkets, and innumerable liters of bottled water!
6) Entry fees on this trip were a reasonable cost component. I did not have to make any decisions to forego something based on cost...just let my interest and mood be my guide. The most expensive single entry fee is the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang (RMB 180 for English guide), followed by the Jiayuguan 3-site combined ticket at RMB 120. The Terracotta Warriors would have been a pricey excursion had I not already seen them previously. Most everything else is still reasonably priced, unlike Eastern China.
7) Laundry, train porters, local maps, donkey cart ride at Gaochang (Turpan) and those inevitable objects, you forget to bring and have to field-procure, like umbrellas and windbreakers! A part of every trip, the Silk Road is not unique in that respect.
Sep 13, 2012, 6:12 pm
#70
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
So that's the narrative. On my way back to the USA now, and once there and with access to fast upload speeds, I will work on the photo presentation on flickr and add link(s) to this thread soon. I promise!
Sep 13, 2012, 9:12 pm
#71
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 41,966
Either hotel prices have sky rocketed during the course of the past 6 years, or you treated yourself to much nicer digs than I did, though to be fair, I shared rooms with at least one other guy (total group size of 4) about half the time, and my traveling companions were extremely budget conscious (i.e. we did hostels, though never dorm style rooms). I'm tempted to say that my average hotel spend was around y85 per night, and at no point did I feel grossed out.
Sep 13, 2012, 10:45 pm
#73
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Either hotel prices have sky rocketed during the course of the past 6 years, or you treated yourself to much nicer digs than I did, though to be fair, I shared rooms with at least one other guy (total group size of 4) about half the time, and my traveling companions were extremely budget conscious (i.e. we did hostels, though never dorm style rooms). I'm tempted to say that my average hotel spend was around y85 per night, and at no point did I feel grossed out.
And let's stay real. This is FlyerTalk not Lonely Planet. I believe that most readers here, if they do set something up independently, would be more likely to hew towards my standards (or better).
Sep 14, 2012, 10:45 am
#74
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 7,415
"Print out all the posts from this thread by jiejie."
Great report, even though I suspect this is a trip I am very unlikely to take anytime soon.
