Finally…Kashgar!

Our journey started at 8.30am. We lost an hour at the start as the local council decided to build height-detecting gantries on bridges. One road had a gantry and we had to turn back. Another had massive road works and we could not cross. We had to circle around the city to find a road west. Finally a taxi driver directed us out. It was a long journey that took around 7 hours. We decided to have a karaoke sing-along to pass the time.

The Uygurs, a minority group, lived in very spartan homes. The elderly are still cheerful and strong. The husk that contains them is slowly falling away. Their weathered faces tell a thousand stories. There are extremely shy people so the greatest respect for them is not to embarrass them by taking photos of them.

The journey was quite uneventful except for some stunning mountain range along the Gobi desert. Along the route, we caught up with the train going from Urumqi (Wulumuchi) to Kashgar (Kashi). The train ride takes 22 hours. From what we can see, the train was chocker block full of country folk going to Kashgar to celebrate China's golden week - National day falls on 1st October. The nation celebrates for a week. All offices and schools are closed. Shops are open though.

After checking into the hotel, we headed off to the biggest grand bazaar of central Asia. Nuts, carpets, musical instruments and the odd kitsch item were on sale. I hope to get to the live stock market on Sunday.

Tomorrow, we are heading 200km towards the Ka La Ku Lake located 4000m up the Karakorum Mountains. Oxygen is required for older travelers. As it’s going to be a long day, an early night is in order. Blog night for now.

Kuqa or Ku Che and Aksu are also big cities

I was pleasantly surprised when the coach trundle over the Tientsien Mountains to the city of Ku Che. We visited a couple of city ruins, all of which are older than 2000 years old. Later in the day we visited a bazaar where it was just as interesting observing the local minority Uygurs (Weegers) at work as they were interestingly starring back at us. Cost of living is incredible cheap here. When I took a taxi from the city back to the hotel which costs ¥5 (A$0.80) and tipped the driver an extra ¥5, he was so happy. It was great to see such a genuine smile.

At Ku Che, we hooked with a group of Italians travelling on the same route. An exchanged of notes only revealed that they were staying in cheaper accommodation. Anyway, they said their driver got lost leaving Kurle.

After an over night stay at a hotel, we had a 7am wakeup call for a start of our journey to Aksu some 380km away. The roads here are compacted desert sand. The government is desperately building highways to cope with the influx of tourists. It's ashame really as I believe the ancient Silk Road should be left as a tough journey as the pioneers did. Along the way to Aksu, we stopped at another grotto where the Muslims mutilated the Buddhist caves when they introduced Islam to Xinjiang. In these grottoes as in the one in Dun Huang, a German gentleman by the name of Stein, pilfered many relics and sold it to antique dealers. We then stopped at a 2000 year old beacon used for sending smoke messages to the various 'gates' informing them of impending danger. Pine needles were used as fuel as it gave off white smoke. It is incredible to see this beacon standing in the middle if the Gobi desert.

Aksu is similar to Ku Che albeit a larger city. The city is built with petroleum money. We visited an ancient ruin, which is at a very poor state. I am uncertain if it will survive another 5 years. All along the rough sandy track, we meet up with modern caravans (trucks) and odd groups travelling in the opposite direction. South of Aksu is the Taklimakan desert.

October 1st is China's national day so we have come up with an idea to wear a red top. One would think that it's easy to find a red top in Aksu, well, not so. Anyway, I might wear yellow and have Pauline wear magenta and those two colours put together make up red. Wohoo!

Tomorrow we head off on an 8-hour journey to Kashgar. I cannot wait to visit the bazaar.

Blog soon.

Dun Huang to Turpan to Kurle

At Jiayuguan, dramas unfolded with three in the group needed to be ferried to the local hospital for treatment. They were suffering from a local bout of gastro. The journey to hospital included Pauline. She had an intravenous drip. She came good after that.

We spent the day visiting some very ancient places: Wei Jin Dynasty tombs and Jiayuguan Pass. These places date back are thousands of years. The military strategies of centuries gone by are incredible. Food was the traditional Chinese cuisine which was too much and too frequent.

After Jiayuguan, we boarded a soft sleeper to Dun Huang. Arrived in Dun Huang at 5.00am! The railway station is 130km from the city! Dun Huang is very much a tourist spot these days. The famous Magao Grottoes feature a thousand buddhas. Too crowded for my liking. Most of the grottoes are the same. We later took a ride out to Yang Guan Pass and the Yumen Pass.

From Dun Huang, we travelled to Turpan (Tulufan). Here, we visited Yangguan Pass and Yumen Pass. These two passes were customs out posts that controlled travellers from the west. Both passes are situated on an oasis on the Gobi desert. We ended the evening with had a dance with the minority Uygurs (prounced weegers) group. We went to the supermarket and bought $60 worth of food (filled 2 shopping trolleys) for the trip to Kurle. We knew very little of Kurle. On the map Kurle looked smaller than Turpan. We were really going rough heading to Kurle.

From Dun Huang, we headed west along highway 314 or was 314 the distance from Dun Huang to Kurle. Any the journey was very pleasant. Took 6 hours to get there. Along the way, we made a toilet stop at a soon to be opened fuel stop. The toilets were incredible clean. We saw an old couple on cooking at the side of the toilet. We spoke with them and they told us that they were employed by the prefecture to keep the toilets cleaned. We decided to break for lunch at this spot. We had bread with corned beef and vegemite. We shared our fruits with the couple and gave them a can of preserved fish.

Back in the bus, I had a quick monetary collection for the couple. The reason being, most toilets in China now charge for usage. These people are more preoccupied with collecting money from us than keeping the toilets clean. However, this elderly couple did what they were employed to do, They could have collected money for the entry to the toilets and we would have paid them. This was a nice moment for us for the day.

What a surprise when we arrived at Kurle. Isn't a hole but a bustling city buoyed by an oil mining economy. The hotel we stayed had internet hence this blog. Dinner was magnificent. A western spread of food buffet style. Steaks were done before your eyes. One of the ladies commented that it was due to the good deed we did earlier in the day at the toilet break.

We crowded around the pianist and did singalongs at the restaurant. A great time had by all.
It's now time for bed for a early start to the next town (I bet it's a huge city) of Kuqa.

If they have internet, I shall write then. Take care.

Times fun when you are having flies!

The stopover in Tokyo 7 days ago seemed like a blur now. Suddenly we are into our 8 day of your trek through the ancient silk road. The places we have been to are truly breathtaking. The moment we touched down at Xian, the journey started with a visit to the Terracotta Warriors. I have seen the TWs on posters and post cards, but when we stood in the tomb with the warriors, we were in awe of the painstaking effort taken to create thousands of warriors, each different to the other. The food was magnificent. At Xian, there were many groups going along the Ancient Silk Road but as we ventured off the beaten track to places like Xiahe (pronounced "Jia her"), a Tiabetan Buddhist community, there were less travellers. At Xiahe, we spent some time at the Labuleng Lamasery - one the six greatest monasteries of the Gelupa Sect (Yellow Cap Sect). The Yak butter lamps had an aroma that took some getting used to. We ended the day with dinner at the Sangke Praire Camp.

The next leg of our sojourn was from Xian to Lanzhou, a city renowned for its hand pulled noodles. Naturally, I had my fair share of it. Lanzhou is situated along the valley. The mountains are incredible. We took a 60min speed boat ride to Bilingsi Grotto where a giant buddha is carved out of the mountain side. Today this is the largest Buddha after the one in Afganistan was destroyed by the Talibans. Dotted along the valley were thousands of little buddhas and wall inscriptions. The day ended with a trip to the White Pagoda Hill, however, the pagoda was far from being a white pagoda.

After dinner, we took a soft sleeper to Jiayuguan (pronounced Jia U guan). This is the actual place where emperor Nasi Goreng built the Great Wall (Jia Yu Pass) to keep the rabbits out.
Jiayuguan is flanked by the Gobi desert. (day temperatures get up to 30 degrees centigrade and night temperatures fall to single digits. We just returned from visiting the tombs of the Wei and Jin periods. The artifacts are incredible. Painting on the brich work dates back 1700 years. The group of people we are travelling with is great. They love to try every thing.

I took about 300 shots of the wall. God was shining his light on me as the evening light painted an awesome picture of the the wall. I would like to upload some images but the connections here are quite slow. The schedule is quite hectic.

Tomorrow we head off to Dunhuang (pronounced Doong Wáng). More of the picturesque Gobi dessert and Taklimakan desert. I shall see if they have a faster connection and I shall upload some images.

Blog soon.

110mins to go and the dogs are nervous

The bags are packed, the dog carer has been briefed, Don is ready to water the fish every third day and I am ready to jet off to see Emperor Nasi Goreng's ingenious wall that has kept the rabbits out all these centuries.
Yes, Clio and Zeus (our pugs) sense that we are up to something. Well pugs being pugs, they have decided to feel nervous lying down rather than pacing up and down the house.
The nervousness has soon given way to peace and calm zzzzzzzzz until the cab arrives at 2am!
ps: this is as nervous Clio and Zeus gets.

Picked up at 2am!

Bags ain't pack and not ready to go. Didn't the song go "All my bags are packed and I am ready to go..." That's John Denver hit. Boy am I showing my age!

It's just a couple more turns of the clock and we jet off to Tokyo and then to China for a 25 day sojourn tracing the route of Marco Polo. This has been a destination I have always dreamt of visiting. The best places in the world to enjoy are often the remotest. We start from Xian and head North-West to the city of Lanzhou. From Lanzhou we make our way to Turpan. Along the way we get to see some old Walls. To fully understand how and why emperor Nasi Goreng built this incredible wall to keep the rabbits out! (this is a story only current residents of Australia will understand) It is after this city where the journey takes on a different perspective: places like Kulca, Kuqa and Asku. These towns or cities are predominantly Muslims. Uygurs and yurts.
I hope to finish packing before the cab arrives in 20 hours time. 2am! Why bother going to bed. There is always something to do. Like blogging!

Talk is really cheap

I received a call from Sarah with an invite to a chat on Skype. I thought here I go, the supreme typist that I am hammering away at the speed of a very slow conversation. Sarah would have typed three sentences ahead while I am still looking for the tilde. So I rushed up stairs and fired up Skype. There is no microphone installed on the G5. But I can hear Sarah speaking to establish a conversation. Suddenly it down on me that I could spare my fingers battering on the keys. While Sarah's "Hellooos" were filtering through the Darth Vader speakers, I Skype a message to her that I will boot up the Powerbook instead. Down the stairs, leaping over the 2 sedate pugs lying across my path, I pulled out the laptop and plugged in a set of free headphones from Sanity. (That's another story). In no time I was speaking into my Powerbook. The voice of Sarah through cyberspace was loud and clear. There was so much to talk about. So much to share. So much to reminisce. So on and so forth. After 30 minutes, the Powerbook was handed to Pauline to let her have a go at speaking into a laptop. Many minutes drifted by and the Powerbook was back with me again. More conversation was had. We ended talking for over 90 minutes. The last time I can recall talking for so long on the blower was when I was making a case to Pauline to marry me. I think that was only 45 minutes and it was a local call.
A quick calculation of the 90 minutes came up to be around A$200 plus had I used a landline.
If I had used the land line, our conversation would have been 9 minutes instead and I would have missed out on that long chat with Sarah. The next conversation I will be having with Sarah is at the airport at 3am. After all the plane doesn't leave until 6am. Reason for the 2am pick ups is because the cab has to pick up from 2 other location.
So as long as Skype is available in the backwaters of Xinjiang, China, talk will always be cheap.

I bought a Porsche yesterday

It goes from 0 - 100 in a flash. It's ultra low profile and its metallic silver. I love it. In fact the reason for my acquisition is because I gave my previous Porsche to Sarah. stable and fast and I love it. As a matter of fact I like it so much it's coming with me to China. But as I fire it up I miss the roar of the flat six. Then I realised that I was driving my Porsche designed Lacie mobile hard drive. Well at least it is a Porsche. Emm.

RUSH... RUSH...And it's just the sound of jet engines!

It seems that time flies more quickly the harder we work. When we are in a hurry, it also seems that everyone else around is holding us up. Especially on the roads. Unfortunately, I have been in this state of work for many years. It's not something to be proud off. Nevertheless, it's something I've chosen to do. I enjoy what I do. Uncertain about what I really do but I enjoy it any way! Emm... I'll think about this later.

Today, I believe in working smart and playing hard. I enjoy travel too much to give it away. After all you never know when your time is up. What's is the point of literary working yourself to the ground and fall sick. Spike Milligan in Monty Python has a show where his epitaph read "I told you I was sick!" And there is always someone else to do your job. What brought upon this? Just look at Steve Irwin. A man at his prime can suddenly lose his life. So be all you can be and do all you can too. And enjoy it.

In 5 days time, the light at the end of my tunnel is not an oncoming train but stars in the sky as the plane lifts off at 6.00am to Tokyo on route to Xian, China, and the start of my sojourn on the ancient Silk Road. Suddenly, as I sit here blogging, waiting for markups from my client in Santiago, it doesn't seem so bad at all. Fasten your seat belts.

My name is not Earl

This is the next and final episode to the heater at my parents' home. A few weeks ago a couple of us had made an attempt to diagnose the condition of the heater but to no avail. Finally the tradesman had to be called in. The first company I contacted never returned my call. My parents were returning on the 9 Sept. With panic beginning to set in, not that it showed, I contacted another company. This company was referred by one of my church mates. So I made it a point to let the company know that I came recommended. Their charges were A$85 for a call out and A$25 per 15 minutes.
Last Friday, a young apprentice, 21 years old, arrived at my parents' home just as I pulled up. He checked the heater unit and gave it a clean bill of health. He suspected the thermostat. Armed with a 5cm sliver of insulated wire, he connected the terminal and concluded, yes, it was the thermostat. He said it is good news. I only have to change the thermostat - A$110. He left to purchase a new thermostat and returned 45 minutes later. Took him 5 minutes to installed it. We spent the next hour in conversation about his goals and aspirations. He had a girlfriend and they pooled their meagre income and rented a house. He intend to save enough and buy a house. I thought at 53 years old, I would have picked up some words of wisdom and I began to share with him. He was in his early 20s - building foundation, 30s - building a career and business, 40s - growing the business, 50s - consolidating the business, 60s - planning for retirement, 70s+ - his life to enjoy. Too many people squander their money when they are young and when they hit 30s, they have to make a real start. They were the same goals he had set. I could tell that he was inspired and encouraged. I was happy for him. In the end, I told him we should go our for dinner when I return from China in October. He passed me the bill and said to me he had taken $100 off the bill.
Well, good thing come to those who do good, my name is Casey

Bak Kua - a taste of the tropics

Those who have been to Singapore would have walked past some shops with smoke billowing out of a charcoal barbecue. It's a local delicacy - Bak Kua in Hokkien dialect and Long Yok in Cantonese. But it's delightful in any language. It's made from mince pork marinated in a mix of secret ingredients. The recipe is as sacred as the Coco Cola recipe. Of course my recipe is unlike the real thing but when you are 7,000 km from the shops that sell, this will do.
It's takes a long to prepare and make but extremely fast to eat. I know there are Aussies currently working in Doha salivating over this serve. Emm... I'd promise I make up for it when you guys get back.