Urumqi – Tian Chi II – Urumqi

            The rough track turned onto the concrete path that circuited the lake. They paused in the shade for Will to catch his breath. It had been six days of chronic diarrhoea, the first two coupled with intense nausea and vomiting. He had managed a few bread rolls and two bowls of rice in that [...]

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Turpan

            Turpan is not China. China wants it to be China, but Turpan is Uighurstan. There is a dialectic between the image of a Han Chinese, scampering from the heat and punishing sun to the confines of a concrete block of apartments, and the image of the Uighur man, clothed in loose linen shirt and [...]

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Tian Chi

            It’s called Tian Chi (Heavenly Lake), and it is situated in the Tian Shan (Heavenly Mountains), and the ‘Heavenly’ superlative is by no means an exaggeration – Tian Chi was paradise. A small alpine lake nestled into a valley at 2000m, it’s emerald waters shone against a backdrop of green slopes and snow-capped mountains. [...]

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Urumqi – Kanas Lake – Urumqi

            As I strolled back from a feed of shashylik, spiced bread and beer, and carrying my wedge of watermelon for desert, I spied a group of teenagers sporting identical t-shirts with big I <heart> China slogans branded in red across the oversized white garments. I admire the country, but I could not agree with [...]

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Xining – Yushu – Xining

            Yushu was another Vieng Poukha – one of those experiences that impregnates itself into your memory. Moments flash past in my mind: looking down bustling Uighur streets into a sea of white caps interspersed with donkeys and the occasional scooter, cycle-utility or car trying to squeeze through the throng; the flash of fire from [...]

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Songpan

            Songpan involved many firsts. It was the first time I had been to such an altitude. It was the first time I had ridden a horse for such a length of time. It was also the first time that peculiar aspects of the Chinese nature first began to itch my sensibilities.
            The greatest memory [...]

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Chengdu

            I write this entry as the only entry which will be out of chronological order. I spent time in Chengdu on two occasions: first having arrived from Guilin prior to travelling to Songpan and also upon my return from Songpan. Chengdu, like Guilin, was relatively unremarkable. I did all the touristic things that people [...]

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Guilin

            I saw the guy hovering around the exit from the Hong Kong – Guangzhou train station. He was stopping people as they went, annoying them as they exited trying to get them to purchase tickets from him. I knew he was a dodgy tout and I knew he was out to rip someone off. [...]

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Hong Kong

I needed to get out of Hong Kong – and fast.
 
This was not about abstract emotional needs; this had a purely financial motivation. I felt like a well-designed and constructed dam that, until now, had been flawless in its steady release of controlled funds into the surrounding world. But then a well-timed and aimed blow [...]

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Don Det

It was a seven hour trip to the southernmost tip of Laos from Pakse. The cheapest way to get there was to do as the locals do, and crowd onto a sawngthaew. And when I say crowd, I mean crowd. The back of the vehicle was already relatively full when I jumped in, I squashed [...]

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