An Arabic flavor in China 

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 Naan bread !                                         Traditional milk tea (salty, with butter/cheese in it!) 

Despite all the warnings from our Han friends and relatives, we chose to live in the Uyghur area, South of Urumqi. There is a huge difference between North and South in the city. People, clothes, culture, religion, food, housing, stores, language, everything differs. We spent a few days in a Muslim, Turkic speaking environment and it was a great feeling of being away from the lavish Han consumerism. True, Uyghur eyes are nothing like friendly there (to anyone, it’s just part of their culture, although we have seen nicer ones outside of Urumqi). We were also feeling a bit out of place, partly because we both look different from them and they had pretty intense looks towards us, partly because it was the month of fasting for Muslims. But it was a unique experience for me to be in an all-Muslim environment (being a man helps to appreciate it…).

Despite the classic, but delicious, Uyghur food (大盘鸡Dapanji, 半面 Banmian, fresh yoghourt, naan bread, Kawas – a sweet drink), we enjoyed the rhythm of life during fasting month and the Erdaoqiao (二道桥) market, full of dry fruits, knives, carpets and Arabic items. A note on housing in Urumqi, prices are steep, especially in hotels that are allowed to take foreigners. We found a cheap Youth Hostel in the Han area (80 to 120 RMB), but went back to our hotel in the Uyghur area the day after because the place was not worth more than 30 RMB. The place is worth mentioning for those of you who don’t mind stinky bathroom and not much hot water (not to the taste of my girlfriend): 青年人旅社, 扬子江路113号, phone: 0991-4509766. Book in advance as cheap hotels for foreigners are scarce in the city.

Not far from Urumqi is the great Tianchi Lake (Heavenly Lake). It takes less than 2hrs to get there and I highly suggest spending 2 days around the lake, not on weekends. It can be overcrowded with tourists, but these stupid animals mostly stay at the same place, jump on a boat, take photos, throw their garbage everywhere, and go back to Urumqi  in 2 to 3 hours. I have nothing but disdain for these people who don’t understand nature. The place has become a tourist trap, with huge entrance fee and exorbitant prices for food and housing. But if you manage to bargain and/or get out of the big money machines, it’s possible to enjoy this fabulous place where nature is still queen. We slept in Kazakh yurts for two nights (don’t forget to bring down the prices to less than 100 RMB) and could take our time, feel the morning breeze, the icy mountain water, see some Kazakh people going down from their horses to cut up a sheep from their flock; we were afar from urban civilization.

To go to Tianchi Lake, you can take the agency option (50 RMB round trip at the ticket office North of RenMinGongYuan 人民公园, 2hr trip, 1 bus per day at 9am) or go the hardcore way: 1h30 bus from Urumqi North Bus Station to Fukang (10.5 RMB), then 15 mins  taxi to the lake (30 RMB). Worth it only if you travel with several people or if you plan to stay overnight at the lake.

The Xinjiang  Museum, North  of town, is interesting, presenting several of the numerous ethnic minorities living in Xinjiang,with their culture. It’s a bit like a zoo, where you see people with funny customs ... (think Natives in North-America) There is a lot of English, except for the section of the museum in which it is explained in 15 (or 20) points, one by one, why Xinjiang IS part of China. Westerners don’t need to read that, they don’t understand propaganda language anyway. ;-)

Hotel Aksaray: 180 RMB  **** (the cheapest we could find in the area !)

Tianchi Lake: 100+70RMB (entrance fee+ rip-off mandatory bus trip to the lake) *****

Yurt around the lake: 100/80 RMB per night, with 3 –poor- meals offered. ****

Xinjiang Museum: free ****

Train Urumqi-Shanghai T54:  1100RMB (instead of 695) – 45hrs, 3100kms. 17:14-13:58

Train Shanghai Hongqiao-Xiamen D3205: 356 RMB – 8hrs 09:41-17:28

Oh, did I mention the SWAT teams everywhere in the Uyghur area ? It was quite funny/ impressive to look at (and it reminds people there is something wrong around the area…); it significantly changed in the Northern part of the city. In the Han area, if there were any special police, it was only “SQUAT” teams, rather relaxed and unworried. After we came back home, we read online that there had been some riots and bombing in Xinjiang in the two weeks preceding our trip. Good we didn’t read that before. :-p

Final note: If you take the train from Urumqi to ANYWHERE. It is imperative to book in advance (as early as you can - in Xinjiang, students can book more than a month ahead). There is a huge market of ticket reselling in Urumqi and most people in the train end up paying 300 to 800 RMB MORE than the real ticket price for any major city destination. We got to pay “only” 400 more than the original price thanks to a friend living in Urumuqi…

Traditional Xinjiang knives                                        SWAT team in the Uyghur area

Tianchi Lake at sunrise                                           Kazakh yurt

Tianchi Lake 

Major city for tourism in Xinjiang (although it doesn’t feel like it), it deserves its fame. 90% Uyghur populated, the city owns its fame to its peaceful way of life (a bit overrated, I found Dunhuang better for that), and great scenic spots around the city. The story said that the city has known its tourism boom a few years ago thanks to the smart locals, without much provincial or government support.

It’s also the warmest city in China, with temperature reaching an easy 40C to 45C during the day in July –August. Looking for shadow is imperative and makes the heat bearable.

There are locals offering tours and I heard from a tourist later than there are inexpensive buses going to major scenic spots. We paid 350 RMB for a 6hr tour in taxi, bringing us to Tuyoq Valley, the Emin minaret (not worth the trip, but it’s close to town), and Jiahe ruins.

We had a great walk (2hrs) in the small village of Tuyoq Valley, picking “candy grape” (so sweet I can’t find another name for it) and admiring the dry plains, green vineyards, and the infamous Flaming Mountain (火山). You can stay 3 hrs if you can bear the heat.

We were lucky enough to experience a sand storm (once a month at most, according to the locals) as we were entering Jiohe Ruins at night, making the visit impossible, but the locals were nice enough to let us come back the morning after on the same ticket.

There are other scenic spots in the area, but we chose to not see them because of time/money limit, and previous reading of mild reviews. The Grape Valley is not worth seeing if you go to any place where they have vineyards (Tuyoq is a great one), unless you want to have dinner in there and, maybe, try different kinds of grape.

Hotel 东方宾馆: 120 RMB ***

Tuyoq Valley: 30 RMB, 100kms from Turpan. *****

Jiohe Ruins: 40 RMB, 10 kms. *****

Emin Minaret: free from outside (not much interest from inside) **

Bus Turpan-Urumqi: 160 RMB  ~4hrs

Tuyoq Valley                                                            Tuyoq Valley and the Flaming Mountains

Jiohe Ruins                                                               Emin Minaret 

Candy grape (incredibly sweet)              Xinjiang fruits, the best in China !

The city is a major tourist spot in China, due to its well preserved ancient Buddhist caves on the old Silk Road. It is surrounded by desert dunes and desert plains and the arrival at the train station offers a gorgeous feeling of emptiness. The city is not big but gives a nice relaxed feeling, with one tourist night market, one food market and a nice mosk (to check from outside). Most tourist spots are outside the city.

The Mogao caves (or grottoes) are freaking expensive, and you get to see only 6 or 7 caves with your guide (but you can stay and follow any group after your guide left) in about 2 hrs, but they are great remains of Buddhist history – from the time it was introduced to China from India). Be careful to check the somewhat annoying schedule, with a long lunch break during which the caves are closed.

For the Mingsha Shan oasis (the desert dunes are much more interesting but still surrounded by a fence), they charge a prohibitive 120 RMB, which you can easily escape by going through a backdoor/hole in the fence. The trick is largely described on several websites so I won’t go through it. Just to say quickly, the hole is very near the Youth Hostel on the side of Mingsha Shan entrance. There are other scenic spots around Dunhuang (>50kms away), but we chose not to go because of time/money limit and the negative comments we read about them. For wine lovers, note that there is some wine produced in Dunhuang, especially icewine (I wouldn’t trust the local red/white wine makers).

There are buses and trains going from Dunhuang to Turpan (and planes going to major cities!), but I strongly suggest you to take the train if you can (on high demand, so it needs very early booking). The bus trip was awful for the first 6 hours (12hrs night trip) because there is basically no concrete road for half of the trip. Believe me, jumping 20 cm high, every 5 minutes, when you lay on your back trying to sleep is no fun. I hope they get rid of this bumpy road one day.

City bus 火车站-downtown: 8 RMB

Hotel LinYan: 132 RMB/night in downtown. ***. (booked onlinehttp://dhlyhotel.com/ )

Mogao caves: 160 RMB, 2hrs (remember to bring a flash light)  ****

Mingsha Shan: 120 RMB or free (we sneaked in through the back door) *****

Bus Dunhuang-Turpan: 160 RMB – one per day, 7pm.

Mogao caves                                                     Mingsha Shan (desert oasis)

A ciment yurt (near the sneaky way to Mingsha Shan)          Liangpi (a kind of noodles): delicious

Really not much to see in Lanzhou but the city got its fame around China for its Lanzhou noodles (兰州面), a moderately spicy noodle (delicious 拉面) soup with beef . We went to see the Huang river (黄江 also called 母亲江- Mother River, because of the colour), and walked along its side. There are interesting, massive water mills installed on a section of its bank, in memory of the general who installed and improved the waterwheel principle in the city, Duan Xu. The city is more of a hub between Southern and Northern/Western provinces.

During summer, train tickets to go across Gansu and Xinjiang seem incredibly hard to get and we got ours from Lanzhou to Dunhuang thanks to some great local guanxi who got us hard beds in the train staff car. Train ticket penury is due to reselling –see later entries for more comments on that and what happened to us in Urumqi - or/and major tourism in these areas. There is an option for a bus trip but it takes 26 hrs !

Train Lanzhou-Dunhuang (overnight, 1 per day): 200 RMB ~12 hrs

Lanzhou noodles 兰州面！                          The waterwheels beside the river

   Journey to the West: they dropped by Lanzhou !

It all started from Xiamen, my new hometown (for 2 years now). Taking the bus to Shenzhen is, in 2011, the only option left since no train is making the connection between the two cities anymore. Hopefully soon finished to be be built, the new bullet train line will make this trip more enjoyable. As for now, it’s a 7 to 9 hrs trip (7hrs on the road if the bus doesn’t stop aka has bathroom on board, 9hrs if you have to make the connection between an intermediate bus stop and the bus terminal – on the edge of Xiamen).

For the cheapest housing option in Hong Kong, I would recommend the New Asia Guesthouse. They have clean rooms with A/C and 24h hot water, and were the only ones to offer me a room under 200 HK$ at the top of the tourism season. It’s still far from the 60 HK$ room (awful one, gotta say) I got in another guesthouse 2 years ago…

Bus trip – 180 RMB – 9hrs (by night). from Hubin Nan Lu, arrives 5 mins walk from Lo Wu (Luohu in Chinese)
Bus trip (other option) – 190 RMB-7hrs (by night) from Xiamen University, arrives 20 mins walk from Lo Wu (Luo Hu)
Subway (MTR) trip Lo Wu to HK downtown: 35 HK$ - 45 mins.
HK hotel: New Asia Guesthouse (in the infamous Chungking Mansion) -180 HK$ per night. Prices during summer are insane, going up to 700 HK$ for their tiny rooms. Note: I got 150 HK$, 20 days later in a tiny room. **
Dim Sum at cozy restaurant (10 mins North from Tsim Sha Tsui): 100 HK$ for 2. Always delicious. *****
Train Shenzhen-Lanzhou (K134): 326 RMB – 46hrs. Departure at 09:55 – Arrival at 07:18. 3100 kms.

Hey everyone, 

Here again, I will share useful trip informations about my 20 day-long summer trip in 2011, which covered 8000 kms, by train, bus and foot ! 

The idea behind this crazy intinary was to get my Z visa in Hong Kong before starting the real funny trip Gansu-Xinjiang. Through 20 days, my girlfriend and I went from the very South-East of China to its very North-West, going through Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Turpan, Urumqi and Shanghai. Like for the last trip through the major Cn tourist spots (see previous entries), I will try to describe accurately the costs and time spent as well as the interest of each place, each city we have been.

I hope this helps the travellers in need of information, the same way I have found help on the net to plan this trip ! Comments are welcome ! :) 

Voilà, faut que je partage mes infos, pour que certains d'entre vous soient pas dans le même galère que moi quand j'ai voulu faire faire mon visa Z (travail), venant de Chine. Les infos des consulats, ambassades et agences de visa sont floues, à peine visibles, voire inexistantes (datées de 2008 parfois), comme si le dessein était de nous dégouter de faire le voyage !

Pour moi, mon université (employeur) s'est occupée de la lettre  d'invitation et de la licence  d'embauche (employment licence), et je devais aller à Hong-Kong (aka, "sortir" du territoire) pour demander le visa Z. Seulement les conditions de demande ont changé pour la France, et avoir ces 2 documents ne suffit plus pour les Français. Vous devez aussi fournir une preuve d'assurance de voyage  international, les infos pour  contacter votre employeur (adresse et tel), et LE CERTIFICAT  MEDICAL COMPLET. Seulement moi je l'avais pas, et payer 1000 à 2000 HK$ pour le faire à Hong Kong, ça le fait moyen (600 RMB sur le continent). Comme en plus, j'étais en timing serré, j'ai du quitter Hong-Kong bredouille. :(

Pour l'assurance, n'importe quelle agence peut vous en faire une, bidon ou non je sais pas, mais il faut payer plus cher. Ils demandent parfois des preuves de résidence ou de voyage vers la Chine (billet aller), mais bon, quand tu peux prendre le métro pour aller à Shenzhen, c'est un peu con. Pour être réglo au poil, préparez ça aussi.

Très important, avant on pouvait payer un peu plus et faire son visa en service express (1 à 3 jours), maintenant, c'est mort de chez mort. On DOIT attendre 4 jours  OUVRABLES, ce qui fait bien travailler l'industrie hotellière déjà trop riche de Hong-Kong. C'est valable pour une demande pour n'importe quel visa, L ou F (touriste ou business)

Pour la seule mention claire et officielle que j'ai pu trouvé: http://www.consulfrance-pekin.org/Visas-pour-la-Chine.html?id_secteur=1248.

Attention, faites le certificat médical dans un hôtel spécialisé. À Xiamen, je vais au Xiamen International Travel Health Center.

国际旅行卫生保健中心
116号 Dongdu Road, Huli, Xiamen, Fujian, Chine, 361012

A Honk-Kong, en face de Chungking Mansion, il y a 2 agences dans un même immeuble (Shoestring et CTS). Shoestring a essayé de me rouler en me demandant 500 à 800  HK$ , CTS m'a demandé seulement 310 HK$ si je fournis tous les documents. Mais j'ai lu un commentaire en ligne disant que Shoestring était moins cher. Dans tous les cas, les prix sont négociables.

Conclusion: le gouvernement fait chier, et je serai bien content quand Sarkozy aura dégagé et arrêté sa politique extérieure offensive et dominatrice.

So it is now 9pm, about 20h after typhoon Fanapi landed on Xiamen. Despite going to bed around 3am last night (too excited to sleep), I woke up around 6 in the morning, partially because of the excitement, partially because of the noise of the wind outside.

After looking outside and taking some pictures from the balcony, I decided to go on the roof (19th floor) to see how it feels up there. Pretty windy as expected, though I didn't fly away. ^_^ I was kind of scared to get blown away by a sudden wind gust (une rafale de vent) so I stuck closed to the walls. I also had to hold my glasses with my hand to avoid losing them. At some point, I was holding them with one hand only and the wind took them off of my nose so that I was only holding them by one arm (une branche) ! Good idea to keep my hands on them...

View from the balcony.               

Early morning, still dark and raining.

Some details reveal the strength of the wind: in Xiada, construction fences have been ripped apart; outside some metal sheets are falling from the rooftop of a KFC (deserves it well !)

It was quite dark so I couldn't take much photos. I went to bed and got up around 12pm (remember schools were closed, so no work for today !). Then a bit later I went outside to see what were the impact of last night tropical storm. The main part of the storm had passed, so it was still pretty windy (I broke an umbrella 2 mins after leaving my building), a bit rainy, but not dangerous.

I was a bit disappointed with the sea waves, which were not even reaching 1m high (which is still quite high for Xiamen...), but I got a nice feeling of the sand, on the beach. As I was walking on the sea-side, I arrived in a seriously windy area where the sand was blown on the surface (a bit like in the desert, but stronger) and it was like 1000 needles on my naked calves. Great idea to wear a bermuda, lol.

Sadly, nature is the main victim. But no human to blame this time ! ^^' (well, these trees were probably not in a very natural arrangement and location, but ...)

Umbrella mourning day !

As you can see from the photos, a number of trees have suffered from the typhoon (there are branches everywhere in the streets), but human-made installations have been little damaged in this area of the city. It's impressive to think that these damages from nature to nature happen every year. Do they replant the trees or get new trees every time after the typhoon season ?! I hadn't seen any remaining damage from a typhoon in Xiamen before. That means they must clean the city well after their passage.

So, it's still expected to rain for tomorrow, but the typhoon is now on his way to the inside territories. It will be raining hard in Hunan in a few days, ah ah! :-p

It started raining pretty heavily. I put back inside all the clothes still hanging on the balcony, fearing the wind would blow them away or the rain get them soaked. Same goes for the 2 cardboard boxes I had spared from the recent moving. Left outside, they would become drenched paper...

And it's a big one. The biggest one landing on Fujian since the beginning of the year 2010. In average, Fujian faces 6 typhoons per year which mainly occur from July to September.

Since I'm always travelling in China during that time, I hadn't had the opportunity to experience one yet ! And this one, named Fanapi, has a fierce character. Xiamen Foreign Language School has cancelled all classes for tomorrow and Xiamen University has sent messages to the foreign teachers to be careful about the upcoming storm. No gouvernmental decision has been taken to cancel Xiada (Xiamen University) classes yet but it may be announced anytime.

It is 1am and I can hear the wind running through my apartment, from the closed window to the bottom of the entrance door. Doors and windows are usually not well insulated in Xiamen, so it is common to have some airflow when it gets windy. This one is strong enough so that I have to use strength to open the door, fighting against the wind.

From my balcony on the 13th floor, I see the palm trees shaking in the dark, the wind blowing on the glass bottles rolling on the street. I can't help but feel the excitement raising. Nature is talking, please listen and watch.

It's starting...