Interestingly, I have an odd proclivity towards cities that the guidebooks dismiss; while the LP made Jiayuguan seem like hell on earth, it was a welcome change from our previous ports of call clean, orderly, and awash with neon.
Unfortunately, my desire to keep moving east prevented me from spending any time there. We made a half-hearted attempt a moonlight wall visit, but that didnt pan out because the wall was predictably closed for the evening. I could have spent the night in fact, I kept the option open but decided against doing so. I figured that Id seen the Great Wall so many times that it wasnt too hard to imagine what the end of it might look like.
From the train station, we took a taxi into town because my friend needed a hotel and I had 4 hours to spare before my next train. On the way, we passed a large, well appointed spa (I love spas). So, after we checked him in, I suggested that we stop by the spa so I could sauna and shower before my train ride and he could get a massage. My friend had never been to a spa before, but was eager to test the waters because his older brother is a spa fan. Like many other first-time spa goers, he was impressed by the service, cleanliness (although its worth noting that not all spas are clean), and the value for the money. In fact, he later texted me that he wished he had just stayed there instead of the hotel because the facilities were nicer (plus, no shortage of hot water).
Then, it was good bye (he is currently traveling in Sichuan, I think) to my friend and back to the train station for me.
Unlike during the previous travels, the train station was quite crowded so I began to get nervous about my upgrade chances. (Just like the situation at other midpoints like Kuche, it was impossible to buy sleepers or even assigned seats, for that matter so I was holding a no seat; hard seat ticket, as was everyone else in line. I further assumed that I wasnt the only passenger who desired a sleeper.)
Fortunately, train upgrades are a prime example of a situation where its good to be a foreigner; the train people dont want you in the hard seats potentially getting your stuff stolen and over mingling with the locals any more than you do. By simply asking, the station officials helped position me in the front of the line at the exact spot on the platform where the car with the upgrade desk would stop (this varies by train, but they always seem to know). Consequently, once on board, I found myself at the front of the upgrade queue; this was a good thing because there were no empty hard seats. Once, the train started moving, I snagged a soft sleeper almost immediately (as I understand it, soft sleepers arent especially difficult to obtain because hard sleepers are generally considered a better value, but was still quite relieved).
When all was said and done, I nodded off and later awoke 1.5 hours away from Lanzhou (total duration of trip was just under 10 hours).
Unfortunately, my desire to keep moving east prevented me from spending any time there. We made a half-hearted attempt a moonlight wall visit, but that didnt pan out because the wall was predictably closed for the evening. I could have spent the night in fact, I kept the option open but decided against doing so. I figured that Id seen the Great Wall so many times that it wasnt too hard to imagine what the end of it might look like.
From the train station, we took a taxi into town because my friend needed a hotel and I had 4 hours to spare before my next train. On the way, we passed a large, well appointed spa (I love spas). So, after we checked him in, I suggested that we stop by the spa so I could sauna and shower before my train ride and he could get a massage. My friend had never been to a spa before, but was eager to test the waters because his older brother is a spa fan. Like many other first-time spa goers, he was impressed by the service, cleanliness (although its worth noting that not all spas are clean), and the value for the money. In fact, he later texted me that he wished he had just stayed there instead of the hotel because the facilities were nicer (plus, no shortage of hot water).
Then, it was good bye (he is currently traveling in Sichuan, I think) to my friend and back to the train station for me.
Unlike during the previous travels, the train station was quite crowded so I began to get nervous about my upgrade chances. (Just like the situation at other midpoints like Kuche, it was impossible to buy sleepers or even assigned seats, for that matter so I was holding a no seat; hard seat ticket, as was everyone else in line. I further assumed that I wasnt the only passenger who desired a sleeper.)
Fortunately, train upgrades are a prime example of a situation where its good to be a foreigner; the train people dont want you in the hard seats potentially getting your stuff stolen and over mingling with the locals any more than you do. By simply asking, the station officials helped position me in the front of the line at the exact spot on the platform where the car with the upgrade desk would stop (this varies by train, but they always seem to know). Consequently, once on board, I found myself at the front of the upgrade queue; this was a good thing because there were no empty hard seats. Once, the train started moving, I snagged a soft sleeper almost immediately (as I understand it, soft sleepers arent especially difficult to obtain because hard sleepers are generally considered a better value, but was still quite relieved).
When all was said and done, I nodded off and later awoke 1.5 hours away from Lanzhou (total duration of trip was just under 10 hours).
The Lanzhou train station was surprisingly calm and orderly by big city standards (nothing like Beijing, Nanjing, or Xian) so I was able to get a taxi within minutes of exiting. I headed north to the Lanzhou Hotel ( 饭店 , I think) because it was mentioned in my friends guidebooks and there seemed to be a lot of other hotels in the area around the traffic circle, as well.
My initial impression of Lanzhou bordered on awe; it was so big and bustling, yet I knew nothing about it. I believe I read somewhere that it is 2-3 km wide and over 30 km long because it is jammed between the Yellow River and an ominous mountain range (in many ways, similar to Hong Kong). Unsurprisingly, I didnt see much visible evidence of foreign investment, aside from a few KFCs and Watsons.
Moving on, the Lanzhou Hotel was a 4-star, but like many of the hotels I encountered during the trip, it had two buildings: one old and one new. The prices were y230 for the old (elevator broken and kind of depressing) and y360 for the new; no room for negotiation.
Sensing that there were better deals to be had, I proceeded to look at the other hotels in the area, but not before buying a plane ticket to Beijing departing the following day and grabbing lunch at the Feitian Hotel across the street. I tried the NBA cheeseburger set there; it was good. The majority of the other customers were American couples with newly adopted Chinese babies (it should go without saying that I had no idea Lanzhou figured so prominently in that area).
After lunch, I checked a few more hotels and eventually stumbled upon the Air Hotel (China Eastern Hotel), which was just around the corner from the first place, had operational elevators, friendly staff, a manageable hot water schedule, and rooms for y92. I bit.
Aside from walking around the eastern part of town later in the day for about an hour, I didnt do a whole lot in Lanzhou because the crazy schedule had taken a lot of the wind out of my sails. I had dinner at another LP recommendation, the Boton Caf. Although I can confirm that it is not the only western restaurant in town, (as the book suggests), I must say that it was quite good and reasonably priced.
The next morning, I awoke at 8:45a so I could snag a shower while there was still water and checked out shortly thereafter. As one might expect, the Air Hotel had bus service to the airport, which was nice because Lanzhous airport is 70 km away from downtown.
On the bus ride, I figured out why the airport is in the stix; Lanzhou is surrounded by mountains in all directions. After we crossed the river, we drove through mountains for around 40 minutes. When we came out of the mountains, an airport appeared, almost out of the blue. The total trip lasted exactly one hour.
Just like URC, LHW seemed a bit like a miniature version of CAN because it had a similar ceiling {obligatory inclusion of obscure airport codes}, but it was a lot smaller than URC and the concourses were arranged in a T shape (as opposed to a single long hallway). Check-in and security were both a breeze and before I knew it, I was en route to Beijing.
At this point, I should mention that nothing was stopping me from continuing to travel on the ground, but I felt like I had earned the right to return to civilization so I exercised my option to do so.
1.5 hours later, we approached Beijing from the northwest along the Great Wall and landed to the south. Predictably, we ended up with a bus gate (Lanzhou isnt exactly a high-roller market). But, the stairs and the bus both worked flawlessly, the taxi queue was nonexistent, and traffic was light so I made it home in no time (unfortunately, my own hot water situation had yet to be rectified, but thats another story).
************************************************** ******
Edited to add: My friend (with the camera) went to Lanzhou a day later than me so I wasn't on hand to help manage our photograghy operation. However, he emailed me these pictures yesterday, which I believe (based on the date stamps) depict Lanzhou and life in Lanzhou, respectively.
My initial impression of Lanzhou bordered on awe; it was so big and bustling, yet I knew nothing about it. I believe I read somewhere that it is 2-3 km wide and over 30 km long because it is jammed between the Yellow River and an ominous mountain range (in many ways, similar to Hong Kong). Unsurprisingly, I didnt see much visible evidence of foreign investment, aside from a few KFCs and Watsons.
Moving on, the Lanzhou Hotel was a 4-star, but like many of the hotels I encountered during the trip, it had two buildings: one old and one new. The prices were y230 for the old (elevator broken and kind of depressing) and y360 for the new; no room for negotiation.
Sensing that there were better deals to be had, I proceeded to look at the other hotels in the area, but not before buying a plane ticket to Beijing departing the following day and grabbing lunch at the Feitian Hotel across the street. I tried the NBA cheeseburger set there; it was good. The majority of the other customers were American couples with newly adopted Chinese babies (it should go without saying that I had no idea Lanzhou figured so prominently in that area).
After lunch, I checked a few more hotels and eventually stumbled upon the Air Hotel (China Eastern Hotel), which was just around the corner from the first place, had operational elevators, friendly staff, a manageable hot water schedule, and rooms for y92. I bit.
Aside from walking around the eastern part of town later in the day for about an hour, I didnt do a whole lot in Lanzhou because the crazy schedule had taken a lot of the wind out of my sails. I had dinner at another LP recommendation, the Boton Caf. Although I can confirm that it is not the only western restaurant in town, (as the book suggests), I must say that it was quite good and reasonably priced.
The next morning, I awoke at 8:45a so I could snag a shower while there was still water and checked out shortly thereafter. As one might expect, the Air Hotel had bus service to the airport, which was nice because Lanzhous airport is 70 km away from downtown.
On the bus ride, I figured out why the airport is in the stix; Lanzhou is surrounded by mountains in all directions. After we crossed the river, we drove through mountains for around 40 minutes. When we came out of the mountains, an airport appeared, almost out of the blue. The total trip lasted exactly one hour.
Just like URC, LHW seemed a bit like a miniature version of CAN because it had a similar ceiling {obligatory inclusion of obscure airport codes}, but it was a lot smaller than URC and the concourses were arranged in a T shape (as opposed to a single long hallway). Check-in and security were both a breeze and before I knew it, I was en route to Beijing.
At this point, I should mention that nothing was stopping me from continuing to travel on the ground, but I felt like I had earned the right to return to civilization so I exercised my option to do so.
1.5 hours later, we approached Beijing from the northwest along the Great Wall and landed to the south. Predictably, we ended up with a bus gate (Lanzhou isnt exactly a high-roller market). But, the stairs and the bus both worked flawlessly, the taxi queue was nonexistent, and traffic was light so I made it home in no time (unfortunately, my own hot water situation had yet to be rectified, but thats another story).
************************************************** ******
Edited to add: My friend (with the camera) went to Lanzhou a day later than me so I wasn't on hand to help manage our photograghy operation. However, he emailed me these pictures yesterday, which I believe (based on the date stamps) depict Lanzhou and life in Lanzhou, respectively.
Will print this out for sure if and when heading to Xinjiang.On the whole, Im glad I went to Xinjiang. While Im not inclined to proclaim.that Xinjiang is a cant miss, destination, going there was certainly worth the effort. As you will note from my pre-trip musings, I was a more than a little apprehensive about the idea of placing myself in the, wild, wild, west, 2,000+ miles away from my home without a clear plan. Part of my anxiety stemmed from the fact that most of my Chinese friends and acquaintances had painted Xinjiang to be dirty, boring, lawless, and dangerous. They were right about the dirt to an extent, at least insofar as the toilets were concerned, but I found no visible evidence to support the other stereotypes. This may be explained by the fact that Hans and Ouigars (and other Muslim minorities, for that matter) dont get along very well; to this day, mutual misunderstanding apparently underlies their relationships with one another.
My favorite parts of the trip were: 1) Kashgar Airport; 2) cycling through the vineyards in Turpan; and 3) wandering through hutongs in Kuche and Turpan. I also enjoyed the sand dunes in Dunhuang, but the weather was too unpleasant to warrant a spot among my top 3 experiences.
I regret not finding the time to check out a single alpine lake along the way because Ive heard that some of them are stellar (and seen pictures). At the same time, its worth pointing out that living on the road can be quite draining; this goes double when Chinese trains are the preferred mode of transport (I suppose it would have to triple if busses were involved). In fact, with respect to this topic, one of my travel companions fittingly pointed out, This type of travel is like work only more work.
In terms of food, I learned to appreciate lamb. The chuanr out there was leagues better than what we get in Beijing and Shanghai. They are bigger, fresher, and use nicer parts of the lamb. As an aside, I observed a correlation between the impressiveness of the cooking setup and the quality of the end product, but your mileage may vary. In general, the lamb was less and less delicious as we headed east (yes, this could be a function of maxing out the lamb tolerance), but Kuche was my favorite.
The best food I had on the trip was the rice pilaf at the place around the corner from the Qiniwah in Kashgar. I suppose I should try to dig up the name, but in case I dont, it was the first place mentioned in the current LP and it started with an I. I was also quite impressed with another LP pick, the Boton Caf in Lanzhou; their writers might not wander too far from their hotels, but at least their tastes agree with mine (well, except for the donkey restaurant recommendations in Dunhuang).
Well, thats about all for now. Im back in Beijing, which is a lot nicer than it was 2 weeks ago because the dust storms have abated and spring is in full force. I dont plan on heading back out west any time during the next few months (I think I've earned some Japan time), but will definitely consider other trips in the future.
My favorite parts of the trip were: 1) Kashgar Airport; 2) cycling through the vineyards in Turpan; and 3) wandering through hutongs in Kuche and Turpan. I also enjoyed the sand dunes in Dunhuang, but the weather was too unpleasant to warrant a spot among my top 3 experiences.
I regret not finding the time to check out a single alpine lake along the way because Ive heard that some of them are stellar (and seen pictures). At the same time, its worth pointing out that living on the road can be quite draining; this goes double when Chinese trains are the preferred mode of transport (I suppose it would have to triple if busses were involved). In fact, with respect to this topic, one of my travel companions fittingly pointed out, This type of travel is like work only more work.
In terms of food, I learned to appreciate lamb. The chuanr out there was leagues better than what we get in Beijing and Shanghai. They are bigger, fresher, and use nicer parts of the lamb. As an aside, I observed a correlation between the impressiveness of the cooking setup and the quality of the end product, but your mileage may vary. In general, the lamb was less and less delicious as we headed east (yes, this could be a function of maxing out the lamb tolerance), but Kuche was my favorite.
The best food I had on the trip was the rice pilaf at the place around the corner from the Qiniwah in Kashgar. I suppose I should try to dig up the name, but in case I dont, it was the first place mentioned in the current LP and it started with an I. I was also quite impressed with another LP pick, the Boton Caf in Lanzhou; their writers might not wander too far from their hotels, but at least their tastes agree with mine (well, except for the donkey restaurant recommendations in Dunhuang).
Well, thats about all for now. Im back in Beijing, which is a lot nicer than it was 2 weeks ago because the dust storms have abated and spring is in full force. I dont plan on heading back out west any time during the next few months (I think I've earned some Japan time), but will definitely consider other trips in the future.
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Length of trip (defined as return to BJ or SH): 7 days
9 daysOriginally Posted by moondog
PS For any of you gamblers out there, here are my self-ascribed over/unders:Length of trip (defined as return to BJ or SH): 7 days
Quote:
Cumulative number of ground transport time, excluding transfers: 40
~50 hours on trains plus 3 hours on mini-busses (I consider the long taxi rides -- 3 hours total -- to be transfers, but the mini-busses in the reverse directions need to be counted because they were painful)Cumulative number of ground transport time, excluding transfers: 40
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Weight lost during trip: 7 pounds
5 pounds. I thought I would really hate the food going into the trip, but it wasn't all that bad once I realized that lamb was ok. Were it not for the immense amount of walking/climbing/fleeing, I think I might have gained weight.Weight lost during trip: 7 pounds
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Condition of my new shoes after trip: sucky, but soles in tact and wearable (btw, if I end up replacing them due to discomfort, they shall be considered worse than sucky).
I've decided to keep the shoes in my shoe rack. While they may be horribly uncomfortable (not a lot of breathing action), they still look cool and will allow me keep my nice shoes in good condition longer than Beijing wear-and-tear (Beijing may well be even less kind to shoes than Xinjiang) would otherwise permit.Condition of my new shoes after trip: sucky, but soles in tact and wearable (btw, if I end up replacing them due to discomfort, they shall be considered worse than sucky).
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I think I've responded to all the comments to date except for this one. Actually, the opposite is the case. The foreigners I encountered during my travels tended to be much more saavy than the Chinese (though you will never see me use "saavy" and "hard seat" in the same sentence).Originally Posted by sy7
I'm assuming that the people pinching RMB were the locals, while the "foreigners" were more willing to put up the cash for upgrades, etc.
I suspect this is because: 1) they are better at doing their homework; 2) there is much more info on and off line in English than Chinese; and 3) Chinese like to let their travel agents handle the details.
By the way, thanks (to everyone) for the compliments. I wasn't ignoring your praises during the course of my trip; I just felt obligated to finish my reporting before responding.
Now, I will try to figure out how to post the pictures (unfortunately, I won't get the Gansu set for another week or so because my friend with the camera is still at large in Sichuan).
I finally managed to get the pics from Kashgar, Kuche, and Turpan up and I'll post Dunhuang++ once my friend emails me. Regretably, (in addition to the lack of airplane pics) I don't have any photos of our accomodations or the various toilet facilities we encountered along the way so there's no way for you guys to judge whether or not I am prissy. But, I will do my best to pick up a digital camera before my next trip to the hinterlands so future trip reports may include more images of interest to FTers.
Wow is all I can say. I thoroughly enjoyed your trip report. I love the reports that travel close to the earth to exotic places. Thank you so much for sharing.
Greetings again. Last night, my friend sent me a bunch more pictures, some of which I have added here. (I'm most pleased with the latest train shots; they capture the scene pretty well.)
Anyway, my friend J, who also traveled with me (not the same "J" who usually accompanies me on such trips) is in the process of writing his own trip report, which is located here.
It's worth checking out because he is a good writer and his trip was much longer than mine. (After Lanzhou, he headed south to Sichuan and even -- on my advice -- spent a night at the Sheraton Jiuzhaigai that many FTers rave about.)
Anyway, my friend J, who also traveled with me (not the same "J" who usually accompanies me on such trips) is in the process of writing his own trip report, which is located here.
It's worth checking out because he is a good writer and his trip was much longer than mine. (After Lanzhou, he headed south to Sichuan and even -- on my advice -- spent a night at the Sheraton Jiuzhaigai that many FTers rave about.)
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I'm bumping my own thread here because, when I was in Safeway last week, I checked out saffron prices: $18.76 buys 1.44 grams. And, iirc, I only paid around Y3 ($0.40) per gram for stuff that was much, much nicer.Originally Posted by moondog
In the end, I bought 50 grams high quality saffron and a really nice bedspread. I went straight from the market to the main post office to mail these items to the US; I spent more on postage (sea mail) than on the goods themselves.
So, in theory, it's possible to finance an entire trip to China simply by loading up on saffron in Kashgar, assuming you had a buyer in place.
Even if you could fetch $1.40 per gram in your home country, you'd still be looking at a $20K profit, assuming a 20kg purchase (for goods that would probably fall under your duty free allowence).
Having been burned by similar schemes in the past (e.g. 94 World Cup tickets), I'm going to stop short of endorsing the above. My sole intention is to point out that the gap in saffron prices between Kashgar and Safeway is significant.