9/30/2006 China Day 5: Train Urumqi --> Kashgar, Xinjiang - Le Voyage, The Excitement of a Trip within a Trip

Even though I am already on a vacation of my own, today I was really excited to leave on my trip within a trip with some local Chinese to Kashgar a trading center on the Silk Road, near the western Chinese border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

I woke up at 6 AM to take care of a few things before leaving on the trip. Unfortunately, things didn't work out quite so well. First, I was going to hop on the Internet at my hostel, check my email, and update this blog. However, for some reason, at this hostel, you can only use the Internet after 10 AM. Well, that wouldn't work for me - I had too much to do that morning and besides, I had to be at the train station at 11:30 AM. There were no Internet cafes in the area open at that hour, so I was out of luck on that count.

While I was searching through my backpack, my iPod dropped out. I picked it up and there was no outward damage. And when I turned it on, everything seemed to be working properly - that is, until I tried to play any music or a movie. Nothing would play - it seems there was some damage to the hard drive. So to any of you more technically inclined, it seems that I inadvertantly discovered that the iPod OS is stored entirely on ROM. So yeah, my photo hard drive backup is shot. I'll just have to rely on burning CDs I guess. In a way, I suppose it's good that this happened before I transferred any photos over and erased them from my memory cards. At least this way, I haven't lost any photos - just an iPod.

Next up on my list of things to do was to try to return my bus ticket to Bu'erjin. It was almost 8 AM by this time. I took a taxi to the station (9.5 RMB). The area around the bus stop looks a lot poorer than the other areas of Urumqi that I have seen, such as the area near my hostel, the clinic where I got my rabies shot, and the Wuyi night market. It seems that the population around the bust station is heavily Uighur.

I don't want to be, but I'm a little more hesitant to interact with Uighur men - especially merchants - after the altercation with the canteloupe vendor the previous night. So, for example, as I was walking towards the bus station, a couple Uighur men offered me some sort of honey-puffed-rice-nuts cake like a rice krispe treat, except for with nuts and not disgusting. I tasted a piece and it was pretty good, and I think I normally would have bought some, but I didn't because communication was difficult and I didn't want 2 Uighurs with knives running after me - especially with me carring a 20-pound backpack.

I got in the refund line at the bus station just before 8 AM, which is when that window opens, so it was lucky timing. While I was waiting in line for the window to open, a couple scalpers came up to me and offered to buy my ticket for 20% off face value. They said taht this is the same amount that I would get after returning my ticket. I later learned from another traveller near the window that this was a a bit of a lie. The service charge to return a ticket is 10% until 2 hours before departure, and then 20% after. Since my bus wasn't leaving until 8 PM and it was 8 AM, the service charge would only have been 10%. In any case, I refused their offer because the ticket window was almost open and I was 2nd or 3rd in line.

In the end, I didn't return my bus ticket at the window either because I thought there was some chance that I wouldn't be able to get on the train to Kashgar with my new friends because it was the autumn national holiday and (almost) everyone in the country (1.5 billion people) was travelling everywhere. And if I wasn't able to travel with my friends to Kashgar, I still wanted to be able to go to Kanas Lake that evening. I was afraid if I returned the bus ticket, the overnight bus to Kanas Lake might sell out and I would have to wait another night to go. Also, I was sick of getting in taxis clear across town from my hostel to buy and return bus tickets. So I decided I'd eat the $20 bus ticket if I got a seat on the train to Kashgar.

I had 2 things left to do before meeting Tian Fang at the train station at 11:30 AM. I could go to an Internet cafe, and I wanted to buy a water filter (no more carrying 11 pounds worth of water!). Unfortunately, netier Internet cafes nor camping stores were open that early. So I sat down at the bus station, wrote in my journal some, and met a few fellow travellers at the bus station who were waiting near me. In particular, I met a soft-spoken Uighur man who came to visit his sister and her daughter for the national holiday. His sister was emigrating with her daughter to Canada in the next couple weeks, so I'm sure it was going to be a touching week for them all.

At around 10 AM, the stores started opening. I passed by a China Mobile store while searching for an Internet cafe, so I popped in and bought a 100 RMB prepaid SIM card. I thought it'd be quick, but it wasn't. Their paperwork wasn't designed for Western names, and it took a while to explain the different calling plans to me with my limited Chinese. The saleswoman was admirably patient, though.

By the time we were done, it was 10:30 AM. There was no more time for me to spend at an Internet cafe even if I found one, so I got in a taxi (6 RMB) to the camping store. Actually, the camping store had 2 locations, and I didn't know which one was closer, so I went back into the China Mobile store and asked the same girl who had helped me which store was closer. She told me which one, and even interrupted helping her current client to call the camping store, go outside and hail a cab for me, and give him directions to the camping store for me. Unbelievably kind and helpful!

So yeah ... camping goods ... one thing you don't want to come to China to buy because they import all the good stuff from the U.S. and Europe, and it's damn expensive! For example, a Platypus collapsable plastic water bag that costs perhaps $12 at REI costs 320 RMB ($40) in China! The Ketadyne Hiker water filter that I bought normally costs about $55 at REI. Here, I had to pay 700 RMB ($88) after a 10% discount! Ah well. You win some, you lose some.

I finished buying the water filter at 11:15 AM - just in time to catch a taxi to the train station to meet Tian Fang. She didn't arrive until 11:45 AM and there was a crazy number of people at the train station, so I'm glad I happened to get a SIM card that morning, otherwise I never would have found her. When we met again, she was was wearing another beautiful, colorful outfit.

We waited a long time for the rest of her friends to slowly arrive - perhaps until 12:15 PM. By that time, it was time to board the train. We bought a 1 RMB "Buy your ticket on the train" ticket and I was able to board with that. Actually, Tian Fang was able to board with that because she gave me her ticket. The train car was so full of people and bags in the aisles and everywhere else. Several times, people couldn't move in either direction. Eventually, we got to our seats, but of the 15 of us, only about 8 had tickets, so a lot of us were standing in the aisles. It was hot too!

So apparently, you can get on any train you want to in China. Just buy one of those 1 RMB "I'll buy my ticket on the train" tickets and get on. You actually do have to buy a ticket later though, because they chekc tickets on your way out of the train station, and a 1 RMB ticket won't do. After almost 2 housr on the train, we heard there were several sleeper cars available. Wen, a professional tour guide, and the organizer of this trip, went to see how many he could acquire. When he came back, he had great news. He had sleeper cars for all of us!

That was the hectic beginning to my trip within a trip. After we got to our sleeper car, however, things were a lot more relaxed and enjoyable. We passed the time like I imagine any group would on a train - alternately sleeping, talking, looking out the window, taking pictures, sharing food we had brought or bought on the train, and drinking some alcohol at night. The terrain we rode through was pretty - arid desert with earthen mountains in the nearby distance. I wrote in my journal a lot, and I found the luggage ledge in my sleeping compartment perfectly suited for pullups. It was very enjoyable to travel with this large family like this.

Chinese trains are mostly like American ones - not very new, but adequate. There is a dining car with pretty good cooked food on each. The one difference I noticed was taht while in the U.S. you might have potable cold water somewhere in each car, on Chinese trains, there is no potable cold water - only potable hot water. The hot water is good for drinking directly, making tea, or instant noodles. The only thing it's not good for is a cool drink, if that's what you want.

I spent a lot of time talking with Tian Fang. Like almost all of the Chinese I haev met until now, no one in this group speaks any English to speak of. While my Chinese is good for getting around, it is very inadequate for having deep or lengthy conversations unless the person I'm talking to is really interested in hearing what I have to say and patient enough to wait for me to fumble with my words and only get an approximation of what I really meant to say. She often has to do the same in reverse - repeat what she said using progressively simpler words and further approximations from what she originally menat. When we have a lot of time on our hands like this, a dictionary helps too. Went to sleep around midnight.