jiejie

Thanks for the complement (I think?) but no, I really did mean that people should look at a variety of great internet materials out there and take them along, particular for specific places they are interested in. No way that one person's experience or one trip report can cover the waterfront, especially on a geographic area as big as a continent.

spc354

Great report Jiejie... I remembered my trip to Turpan, Urumqi, Kashgar and Karakul in 2003. I was lucky to be able to visit the Spice bazaar in Urumqi in one of its last days of operation. I am reading "Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud" by Shun Shu Yun now where the author chronicles her attempt to retrace the journey of Xuanzang, which adds a third dimension. Someday, soon, I plan to travel the KKH through the Hunza.

I had been planning to do a grand trip from Istanbul through Syria, Iran, Pakistan, China and Kyrgyzstan for last fall, but it fell through because of the problems in Syria, Iran and Pakistan... I love trains, so I had traveled Beijing-Urumqi by train, and then flew to Kashi for time constraints. Missed out on your stops other thn Xian.

Will you be back in China soon? I will visit Xichang in January '13 for a week and again go back to Beijing/Xian/Shanghai in May for a month. Would love to meet up with you then.

I have one question: Your 3G dongle! Is the hardware locked into a Chinese provider? Do you need a post-paid account to use it? Can you get an unlocked dongle and use SIM cards that can be picked up anywhere?

Once again, great TR. Thanks.

jiejie

You're welcome, it was a great trip. Three comments/responses on the parts of your post I bolded above:

1) Consider alternate routing from Istanbul via Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Kazhakstan. I don't think the problems in Syria, Iran, Pakistan are going away anytime in the foreseeable future.

2) I'm sure I will at some point, not until end of Oct/early Nov this year at earliest. Have some family obligations to deal with. Sure if I'm around, I'd love to meet up. And don't discount the possibility of meeting some of the other China-resident FT'ers on this forum, who are also founts of wisdom and funny tales.

3) I had a friend's USB 3G plug-in device by China Unicom and he told me no need to ration using it, but I don't know the details of the plan he was on. A better resource thread on this forum is this excellent one, where you should post new and specific questions after you read it.

moondog

By "dongle", I assume that both you and jiejie are referring to USB modems. Since most smart phones produced within the last year support tethering (for ~5 devices, usually), these USB modems are rapidly approaching obsolescence. Just make sure that your phone is unlocked (or get it jail broken here), and pick up a Unicom 3g sim in country (electronics markets sell them, as do some newspaper stands). I use a dedicated WCDMA mifi router myself because it is faster than normal 3g, but I'm not sure if it's easy to pick up SIMs for these in other countries.

ETA:

See these threads for more info:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...et-primer.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...one-china.html

jiejie

Yes that's what I was referring to. But I have no smartphone yet. Anyway--let's move the electronics discussion to your recent communications thread which is a godsend to tourist visitors, frequent business travelers, and resident FT'ers alike.

rankourabu

Inspiring. Nice to hear that this is so easily doable independently. I have 4 weeks to kill in Asia next summer. Will be re-reading your trip in detail.

One question though, is it doable without any language knowledge whatsoever?

moondog

If you are resourceful, outgoing, and don't mind enduring frustrating moments on occasion, I would say "yes". Just pick up a current LP, and head to Kashgar with a positive attitude, but you might want to consider adopting a completely flexible approach (as in not planning much of anything in advance). The reason I suggest this is that you will surely encounter other travelers who either speak Chinese or have arranged guides that are doing interesting things, who may invite you to tag along with them.

It's easy to get by with English in the hostels and those cafes that are run by foreigners, and eating is pretty simple as well (i.e. there is chuan everywhere in Xinjiang).

Lastly, if you arm yourself with a few of our phone numbers before you leave (most of us speak Chinese), you'll have "concierge support" when you need it (e.g. trying to buy train tickets).

Basically, if you consider yourself to be a type B traveler, then go for it!

jiejie

It's possible to get by as an independent with no Chinese language skills, just a phrasebook and a lot of patience. Just depends on what kind of a personality you have. Of the places I went on this trip, I would rank the most difficult to deal with speaking no Mandarin would be
--Zhangye (few to no English speakers);
--Jiayuguan (few to no English speakers, but a foreign tourist can only be in town to see the Great Wall, so people can anticipate.)
--Turpan (a few English speakers but a multitude of choices of sights, from which you need to communicate effectively to distinguish what you want)
--Xining (didn't seem to be many English speakers here)

Xi'an which is a well-trodden tourist track, has enough English speakers around, LanzhouUrumqi are similar to dealing with other 2nd tier Chinese cities, Dunhuang is doable, and Kashgar you can paradoxically find some English speaking Uighurs in the tourist industry, whereas the Chinese out there won't speak any. In the hinterlands of Xinjiang beyond the main towns, you'll need a Uighur-speaking guide, as you just won't get much insight on your own.

For those who are semi-autonomous but a little threatened by lack of language skills, it would be possible to prearrange a guide on a limited locale basis to assist with logistics and sightseeing in the places where lack of Mandarin presents more of a challenge, such as between the Lanzhou-Jiayuguan corridor. Turpan is also easy enough to arrange a meet-and-greet with a local English-speaking guide for that area. The additional costs of this shouldn't be prohibitive...and nothing compared with the cost of a formal, fully escorted tour.

drewguy

Yes, it was a compliment about your extensive, detailed descriptions and travel advice. ^

mnredfox

If you are the adventuresome type, making do without language skills in where it would be helpful/needed can be a fun experience. Oh, and you need lots of patience and time too.

Chihster

I hope you are not slacking off, Jiejie

But where are the promised pictures??!!

jiejie

I am so sorry. I got disrupted in the last couple of months on my flickr uploads due to deaths in family, having to dig in on a bunch of required continuing education, and other issues. Since you rightfully called me out on my promise, I will redouble my efforts to finish.

I also have another couple of (shorter) trip reports in the hopper taken this past summer but have yet to deal with them. Oy. And I still haven't finished Christmas shopping.

Chihster

ah.... my condolences......

Look forward to the pictures and yet more reports!! After the shopping, but hopefully before the holiday itself so I can sit by fire and flip through the pictures!

jadecocoa

Jiejie thank you very much for this great report! Travelling the Silk Road routes is also a dream of mine and your report is so helpful as I plan my own trip this May from Xian to Urumqi (already did the Southern part from Urumqi to Kashgar and ending in Tashkent in 2008). Thanks again!

jiejie

You're welcome. It's a fabulous trip, for sure. I am about 75% done with getting photos ready to upload to flickr, but am in the midst of a major upgrade on my computer. Shouldn't be too much longer. I took nearly 4000 images on this trip, and it's been really hard to narrow them down to a representative sample!