Silk Road Trip: Part 2

I apologize if this post lacks detail, proper explanation, or grammatical correctness, I just wanted to get this one done, and i have probably forgot some of the great things that went on but here's the jist.

Aug 28, Day 7: In Xi'an, we visited the Small goose Pagoda, a Buddhist Temple. We climbed the 2 foot staircase to the top, which gave a view of the City of Xi'an, but since China is commonly overcast, we could not see much. After the Pagoda we visited a museum, which i remember vaguely now, so it obviously did not make that much of an impression on me. After, we went back to our hotels, to met host students from nearby universities to take us to lunch. Our host student was Nick. he was really helpful, liked basketball, American movies. The restaurant we went to brought out an old police officer uniform, and let all the men try it on, apparently since women were not police officers, we weren't allowed to put the costume on. After we were suppose to bike along the city wall of Xi'an ,but it was raining, so we found a small bar street with our host student, nick, grabbed a few beers, and played a Chinese dice game, until our bus left for the train station.
The train station was the worst experience i have had in a long time. First it was raining. The tour guides ordered us to wait till we got our luggage off the, and wait for them to take the lead. We were standing in the pouring rain, with our luggage for about 10min withour the tourguides moving, so a group of us said screw it, and figured we could find our way to the station. We had to pull are bags through puddles, once we got to the station it was jam packed, hardly any room to move anywhere, and everyone smelled like wet dogs. My friend nick got his wallet and camera stolen. We all attempted to huddle in a defense pack until it was time to board the train. Once we actually got on the train it was not too bad. It was a sleep train rows of bunkbeds. Alot of people got stuck sleeping by foreigners, but fortunately i was by all my friends. My friend mitch had a portable projector, so we were able to hook up an ipod, and project a movie to fall asleep to. the train left at 8pm and we arrived in Xining the next morning at 10.

Aug 29, Day 8: In Xinging, we went to a monastery, and than met the other half of our group for lunch. Our TBC group of 100, was split in half, and we each went in oposite directions for the trip, meeting in the middle. A man talked to us about Tibetan culture, which i found very interesting.( I would have been able to share some of the things he spoke of if i did not loose my notebook along the trip) After, we took a 4 hour bus ride to Tongren. The ride was beautiful, driving through the countryside of China, full of mountains, and multiple views of the Yellow River. We Arrived in Tongren, which is a Tibetan town, checked into our hotel, and i had to leave because i was part of the group staying at a Tibetan home that night. We stayed at the leader of Tongren's home. It was a little uncomfortable because i wanted to be gracious and polite, and we did not speak any of each others language. They fed us with watermelon and Yak milk though. We played cards and went to bed

Aug 30, Day 9: In the morning at the Host family, we clogged the toilet, so we all had to use the alternate bathroom, which was a straight up outhouse. 4 wooden walls, with planks on the ground inside. You pee, than dig some dirt and throw it on top. After breakfast with the family, we went to a few monasteries. They were really pretty, but got tedious after awhile, because we saw about 3 in one day, and honestly i can't tell the difference between each Tibetan Buddist Monastery. It was a little uncomfortable as well, because it was a time of year, where no women are suppose to be inside, and some of the monks were looking at us oddly. It was neat because the monastaries are yet to be tourist sights, but in the next few years, the Chinese government is forcing them to be. I am glad i got to see them before they were full of tourists. People were so intrigued by us, so friendly, and held strongly to their culture, it is unfortunate they want to make this town more of a tourist attraction. Later in the night we went back to the Leader's home, where his wife, and daughters and friends dressed in custom Tibetan gowns, and save and danced or us, while talented people from our group sang in return. It was a lot of fun, at the end of the night they played Tibetan music, and taught us all a dance.

Aug 31, Day 10: We awoke, and got on the bus to drive 6 hours. We stopped about 2 hours in at a nomadic plains area. We were unable to see any nomads, but we saw alot of thier Yak's roaming, (As a side note, Tibetans use yak for everything. Yak milk, Yak Tea, Yak cheese, milk, butter rolled in balls. yak meat, i hate it all. i never want to eat yak in my life) The area was beautiful though. After we stopped for lunch in an islam community in Xunhua, I felt so bad because we were eating during the time of Ramadan, and the family had to served us food, while they were unable to eat all day... We then continued on our 4 hour drive. We saw a lot of china that i was looking forward to seeing, small farming towns, houses made of dirt. We arrived in Lanzhou, the most polluted City in the world, grabbed dinner and waited for yet another overnight train. Fortunately, this train station was no where near as crowded as Xi'an, and again i was able to sleep next to friends, instead of unknown Chinese men.

Sep 1, Day 11: We arrived in Jiayuguan the next morning, which was a pretty big city. First we visited the Jiayuguan Fort, it was a fort made with 4 walls to keep invaders out. We had a tourguide who would not let us out of his sight, and wanted to explain each historical detail, while everyone in my group wanted to shoot the bow and arrows available, ride tandom bikes or try on Chinese warrior costumes. It was a really interesting fort, but we spent far too long there. A young Asian boy who spoke perfect english approached us, and wanted to be our tourguide, although we declined, he followed us the entire time. When i was no longer able to handle the tour guide, me and the little boy mike, sat down and he asked me to write down my feelings in the book. i wrote he was a great boy, and to pimp the hos when he was older. He asked me what was in my nose. i explained in the manor that one pierces their ears, i pierces my nose. He thought that was hilarious, and would not stop laughing. After 4 hours at the fort, we left mike, went back to the hotel for lunch, then head to the Hanging Great Wall, which is where the great wall ends on the West side. However, much of it was destroyed, so they rebuilt it, and it just looked like a fake wall. There were huge mountains surrounding the wall though, so once we got to the end, to say we had been to the end of the great wall" we climbed all over the mountains. it was great, we got really high. i could see so much of the city. After we had a group reflection dinner at the hotel, then went out to a bar for a little bit. It was overpriced, but nice to be at a more low key bar, that was not a crazy dance party, which is what most of the bars i have encountered have been.

Sep 2, Day 12: WE drove 5 hours from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang. Dunhuang is an oasis town, of the Gobi desert. We had time to wonder the town, then packed the bus to drive to the desert. we drove about 15min to the desert, set up our tents, and climbed the dunes. We got pretty high, and all hung out on the top of a sand dune, until the sun went down. Then we followed the campfire light back to camp, hung around the fire, ate watermelon, and just hung with the group. I was fortunate to be on side A of the trip, everyone was on trip was friendly, and we all got pretty close, which has come back to Beijing with us. Group B is more clicky. But back to the desert.... It was drizzling the whole time we were there, and it has not rained at all in 10 years in the desert. Because of the rain we were not able to see any stars, the only downside of our trip to the desert.

Sep3, Day 13: We woke up at 5am by Aurther, the Chinese man i told earlier speaks like Arnold S. and says "Fuck" alot, shaking our tents, screaming " get uuuup!" We got to the camels, climbed on in the dark and rode them to the top of a really high sand dune. Cindy's camel kept turning around and growling at her, mine kept shitting, and the one behind me kept walking so close to the end, the rider, thought his camel would just topple over. The camels were all attached by a string, about 5 to one string and a leader in the front. When we got to the top, the leader, smacked our camels in the face to sit down. When they sit down, its pretty scary, thier front legs lay with their butt up, you leaning straight forward, then throw you back as they put thier hind legs down. Once again, we were suppose to be able to watch the sunrise from the dune, but because of the rain it was too foggy, but the camel riding was amazing anyways. After i was exhausted, took a nap back at the hotel. Woke up for a group dinner, than went to a night market, where they sound little gadgets, but then had a bunch of outdoor seating, serving beers and kebabs.

Next morning we flew home, and i moved into my dorm, and was able to get back to somewhat of a normal schedule, and adjust to living in Beijing!!