Bad-a$$ Bruce

I'm going to name my first child, boy or girl, Bruce.

Or least if I get a puppy or kitten at least.

Not in Kansas Anymore

At the China Pavilion, Shanghai World Expo.

Animated villagers going about their daily lives inside the famous painting "Riverside at the Qingming Festival" VS. unrepentant real life Chinese boxing each other out for a good view.

I'm sitting at home writing my paper about sovereignty disputes over 钓鱼台/Senkaku Island and how public opinion and nationalism affects foreign policy. China this, China that. Suddenly I realized: Oh shit, I'm in China. I'm not just reading the stuff, I'm in it. I'm looking out into China right now (grey and smoggy). It's right at my doorstep (dynamic yet smelly). I don't know, it's an obvious statement but it feels so strange. I didn't think I'd end up here. How did I get here again?

So Otterly Cute

I should be working on my Chinese Foreign Policy paper but instead I'm watching baby otters learn how to swim, and so shall you... muhahahaha!! Otters are addictive.

Is it just me or is Mama Otter just dunking Baby Otter repeatedly into the water? I love the beginning when she's got Baby Otter by the foot and goes, "Nuh uh, I don't think so." HA. Otters are so awesome, I want one.

Singing Sand Dunes

Day 5: Dunhuang (Singing Sand Dunes)

Day 6: Dunhuang (Mogao Caves, overnight stay in the Gobi Desert)

Evening of Day 4, we headed out from Turpan (in Xinjiang Province) to Dunhuang (Gansu Province). Both Turpan and Dunhuang are must-see places on the Silk Road circuit, but linking up these two towns was a stressful travel experience. If you're going to attempt this same leg, here are a couple of words from the wise:

1. You'd think that China has a huge train network that allows you to pick any permutation of stops. You're wrong. Especially in the Western region, there's really just one main railroad that's like an aorta, and you get on/off at the closest town to your ultimate destination... usually a 3 hour drive away. So even though people say that Turpan has its own train station, what they really mean is that it's "only" a 1 hour drive from the ACTUAL town with the station (some sketchy bumblef*ck place). Same deal with Dunhuang, which is one of the most famous historical towns in China -- only recently did it get its own new train station, but it doesn't link up to the "Turpan station", so we actually arrived in another town at around 5am and then got into a taxi for 2-3 hours. Painful.

2. We had a "mule" bring our tickets from Urumqi to Turpan (3 hour ride), where we picked up our tickets at the station. It was literally like the passing of the Olympic Torch. It was so stressful because I had to communicate with the mule via SMS the whole time as to precisely which train, which train car, what time, etc... and position ourselves so that we were at the right spot to collect the tickets from him when he got off the train, and then hop on the train ourselves. This all seems way too complicated and unnecessary, doesn't it? Well, apparently because Turpan is not the first stop of the "railroad aorta", it's almost impossible to book a overnight ticket for our leg of the trip (we were traveling during National Week). Then you'll ask why can't we just buy the tickets for Urumqi to Dunhuang, and then just get on at Turpan? Because the railroad company will resell your tickets if you don't get on the train at the designated departure station. Yes, you lose your spot. So now you know why we had to pay for a train mule. So much could have gone wrong, folks... but we made it. :)

3. Overnight trains are not a bad deal. Highly recommended -- they've banned smoking and spitting now, even in the hard sleeper section.

On our way to the "Turpan train station".

An 8 hour overnight ride, where Gene and I experienced a horrible gastrointestinal thrashing. Marge and Rob were right about that sketchy looking lamb. :(

We arrived at Dunhuang at 5am the next morning and hopped onto a taxi, which ended up being a 2 hour death ride through the Gansu plains. It was completely pitch black, the road had no lights, it was literally a straight line, and we were probably driving at 175km an hour or however fast that tin-can could possibly go. Gene was riding shotgun so he was trying to make sure the driver stayed awake (would you be able to keep your eyes open if you were driving in the dark on a straight line???). Oh, and 5am in Western China is really like 2am, because Beijing keeps all the provinces in the same time zone. At some point I was so tired that I let myself pass out, rationalizing that if I was going to die in the hands of Mr. Speed Racer, I might as well not see it coming. We made it though, and staggered through the doors of our very decent 3 star hotel.

We decided to give ourselves a break for the first half of the day, catching up on sleep and taking long hot showers. I realized later that the difference between a 2 and 3 star hotel in China is whether or not they have 24-hour hot water available. So very key!

Later that day when we got all refreshed, we rented bikes and rode towards Crescent Moon Spring (月牙泉) and the Singing Sand Dunes (鳴沙山), where you can pretend to be Prince of Persia, go sand-sledding, and even practice your bow-hunting skillz. We also had these neon orange booties strapped to our legs so sand wouldn't run into our shoes.

Riding a camel while talking on a cellphone. The man takes it to a new level!

What do you think these Chinese say when they're going through their vacation photos?

"Oh, and this is a Laowai (老外)! Yea, Dunhuang was great."

It was really really tough getting up the sand dunes.

Something like 1 step up, 0.95 steps down with the 45+ degree incline.

People who made it to the ridge of the sand dune (not us).

This is when I realized that Rob has superhero thighs and supermodel poses.

... the stuff you see in comics but never think you'd see in real life.

We all took a couple rounds on the archery range -- it's really really fun!! I also got to live out my Night Elf Hunter dreams, hahaha... ^_^

Not surprisingly, some retardo Chinese think it's okay to step behind the archery range when a bunch of noobs (us) are releasing sharp high-speed projectiles in the air. I swear it's because of China's high population density that people behave like lemmings.

I was the slowest tobogganer ever. :(

Sunset on the sand dunes.

The next day we went to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Mogao Caves (莫高窟), which is an elaborate cave system of temples (492 of them) that showcase some of the finest Buddhist art that you'll find in the entire world. The first cave was constructed by a Buddhist monk around 400AD when he was travelling along the Silk Road and saw the silhouette of two "sleeping Buddhas" along the hills as the sun was setting. Inspired, he went to those hills and dug out a cave, commemorating his vision through art. Gradually, more and more monks created their own caves. Some of the bigger temples were commissioned by the royal family and wealthy merchants, similar to how art was patronized in the West.

If if you ever play charades with Gene, this is a "pagoda".

The green flag in front of the cave indicates that it's open that day.

The Mogao Caves only open 15 caves per day for minimum exposure and maximum preservation. 15 caves doesn't seem like much considering that there are over 400 caves available, but you'll be able to see an impressive variety of styles and themes.

Photography is prohibited (and vigilantly enforced), but I managed to sneak a photo in anyway because I'm a ninja. Wha-pow!

This isn't one of the best caves that we saw, but it's Sakyamuni Buddha's "court" (Tang Dynasty).

I didn't get to see this specific cave, but this is what they generally look like.

Mogao Caves was seriously the most culturally impressive part of the entire Silk Road trip. You'll see a lot of Buddhist art in Asia and there'll be a lot of recurring themes that get boring after awhile, but what makes Mogao Caves extremely special is the wide range of dyanstic styles. We saw caves that were created from the Sui, Tang (lots of that actually), Wei, and even Qing (they did a lot of touch-ups to the old caves). The figures of the sculptures, the patterns, the beams and actual shape of the ceiling, the type of material used... all of these were very different. It was amazing to see a such a diverse collection of artwork of similar theme in caves (not museums)! Okay, I don't know whether I'm doing a good job selling this place, but if you're on the Silk Road then you must make a stop at the Mogao Caves. If you can't understand Chinese very well, I recommend timing your trip so you can arrange for an English tour guide because otherwise a lot of interesting information might go over your head.

Oxidized flying asparas (飛天), aka pretty half-nekkid celestials.

Oxidation happens when light hits the paint, which is why no photography is allowed.

Also about the photo-taking thing -- I was a bad girl and sneaked one in at the very beginning, but there's a very valid reason why they're not allowed. The paint that is used in the Mogao Caves is mixed with certain metals that oxidize, so they'll gradually darken and turn black when exposed to light. Because these artwork are in caves, they're generally very well preserved, but you'll see that figures painted in the areas closer to the doors look drastically different than the ones deeper inside. For example, in one cave I thought that the images looked similar to African tribal art (just like the picture above), until the tour guide showed us the figures towards the back and oh my... I couldn't believe my eyes... so beautiful *stars streaming out of my eyes*. Of course if you're not using a flash while taking photos (like me) theoretically it should be fine, but you can't ensure that everyone will turn off their flash. That's why "no photography" blanket rules exist. I finally understand now -- so please follow the rules when you go to historical sites. They're there for a reason and we should try to preserve these cultural items for generations to come! :)

Next time, our overnight stay in the Gobi Desert!

Bunny Ears

YO. Check out my new earMiffies. :)

I got them today for 16RMB at the local market.

They're SO ridiculous! If I saw someone wearing them on the street I'd totally openly point and laugh.

I pondered the utility in buying these for oh... about 0.5 seconds. What's 3 dollars for a bit of fun (and yes, they are quite warm). :)

I promise myself that I will rock out with these bad boys once it hits 40 Celsius or under -- BOOYAH!

Happy HNCween!!!

Happy Halloween y'all! :) Sailor Mars will now be retired as of tonight.

HNC had the most ridiculous party last night -- woke up this morning still feeling inebriated, so I'm taking things really slow today, heh. Yesterday I saw the most original and fun costumes I've ever seen out of a group of people. I think it's partly because of the China factor, because here:: 1) people mostly MADE their own outfits and are therefore very creative with their resources (i.e. dumpling, rubix cube, Mickey Mouse), 2) girls don't go slutty because they don't have a choice... there aren't any online Halloween stores that only stock Bad Cop and Pirate Wench sets, 3) and if people do buy costumes like me, Marge and Casey, it's off Taobao where there are a TON of cosplay options... like Sailor Moon? BOOM.

Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Mercury.

My girls Margy and Casey -- couldn't have asked for a better trio!

This post is going to be image heavy, since I think the pictures mostly speak for themselves (and my neurons are still not firing off at normal speed yet). I love everyone at HNC. Seriously, you guys rock my socks.

Prepping at Casey's room.

Little Girl: I can see your nipples! You have cream all over yourself!

Carlos: I'm a fruit tart. :(

A chef and his jiaozi (dumpling), ha! Love it.

Waldo, you sneaky bastard!

Pre-gaming the afterparty, with Chairman Moon presiding.

Starting to get really sloppy here...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRUCE GENE LEE!!! :D

ur da bomb.

Who doesn't dig the tiara? :)

Tourin' Turpan

Day 3: Back at Urumqi from Tianchi Lake, busride to Turpan
Day 4: Turpan

Hello! I've been incredibly busy lately that I barely have enough time to sleep/eat/poop these days. I've been to Shanghai for 2 weekends straight and homework still keeps on piling up. Ah well, if I don't continue posting Silk Road photos up then I'm afraid details are going to start slipping away. Girl's getting old, you know. :p

The Fabulous Four left Tianchi Lake bright and early on Day 3 and arrived back at Urumqi in the afternoon. Honestly, Urumqi isn't very interesting... it's pretty mundane except that: 1) the signs are in Uyghur along with Chinese, 2) half the people there look like hapas, 3) you can see yellow sandy mountains in the distance. Aside from that, it has the same feel, the same hustle, the same meh-ness of a regular Chinese city. Unless you see...

... that maybe it's not so normal for a Chinese city?
:p

Our next destination was Turpan (吐魯番), but we hadn't bought tickets there yet. Fortunately, a billion buses leave Urumqi for Turpan daily so all we had to do is drop by the bus station and buy our tickets on the spot.

Lining up at the Urumqi bus terminal.
A vast majority of the travelers here were Uyghur, which made sense since most of the Han people live in Urumqi and not the smaller cities/towns in Xinjiang. P.S. Uyghur babies are the cutest! They all have these extremely large and spherical heads. More evidence at the end of this post. :)

A typical Xinjiang landscape.
We saw fields of windmills on the 3 hour busride to Turpan... quite impressive, with no East Coast yuppies to petition the uglification of the no-one-cares land.

By the time we got to Turpan, it was already getting really late and we were starving like ravenous baby wolves. We hadn't reserved a room in Turpan and hoped we could play it by ear like the free-spirited backpackers that we were, but the 2004 Let's Go guide that we brought along (ahem, Gene) was indeed outdated. :( Desperate, we tagged along with our cabbie (he looked like a Uyghur George Lopez), who suggested another motel near his "tour company"... to our great surprise it ended up being a decent, clean, economical choice. It was also right across from the night market! Really -- there was 101 ways to rip us off that night, so I was relieved to not be cheated in China for once. But then again, we were still in China? Hm. I like the Uyghurs. :)

Feeding on (the best) lamb (ever!!!) and freshly-made Uyghur wontons.
We sat with several groups of local men at the night market (very few women out at night unless they were serving/making food), who were very gracious and offered to share their dinner with us. Otherwise they didn't really pay us any mind, but we felt a little uncomfortable drinking our beer at the table since Muslims don't consume alcohol.

The next day, we hired a driver to take us around the various tourist spots around Turpan. The area is a very interesting place in that it was once the Uyghur capital and a very important staging post on the Silk Road. The Ugyhurs were Buddhists until around the 8th century when they converted to Islam, so there's a lot of ancient Buddhist relics around this town. Turpan is the lowest spot in China (-154m sea level, 2nd lowest depression after the Dead Sea) and also the hottest spot in China (121.3 Fahrenheit). But because of the extreme heat and lack of humidity, Turpan grapes and raisins are super famous and delicious. :)

First stop -- Jiaohe Ruins (交河故城), an ancient Han dynasty city settled almost 2000 years ago. The reason why this place is called "jiao1 he2" is because this capital used to sit atop an island that was in the middle (交) of two rivers (河), with steep cliffs on all sides of the river that acted as a natural defense. Well guess what happened once the rivers ran dry... :/ Just ask Boyz II Men, or Genghis Khan who pillaged the shit out of this place.

Peering into what used to be the river bottom...

I really enjoyed walking around Jiaohe and imagining what life was like back then. When we think about people from the past, it's easy to believe that they were not as smart/advanced as we are today... but human civilization is a gradual technological and societal evolution with sporadic bursts, and seeing how complex yet transient this city was, standing 2000 years ago with garrisons, monasteries, trade avenues, town halls... it all makes me feel quite small and flimsy in the whole scheme of things.

Freshly baked nan (bread) for 1Y each.
Gastronomically orgasmic as it was, it was all we had for lunch. Not enuff.

After "lunch", we drove over to Huoyan Shan (火焰山), which is the famous mountain range in Journey to the West (西遊記) that monk Xuan Zang, Monkey King & Co. had a really tough time crossing. Supposedly they are named "blazing fire mountains" because they look like they're on fire with their purplish-brown color? Well, all I have to say is that people had a pretty active imagination back then. :)

"I'm on a horse."
"BLAGHAGHAHHHGGGGGFART."
"Camel."
* reference to the Grover Old Spice commercial* :)

Look, I'm on a Journey to the West! Wheeeee~~~! ^_^
It was a really nice view up here, but Dunhuang (our next stop) ends up being even prettier.

All done with our excursions, we sought sustenance at a market back in town where literally every stand served the exact. same. thing. Which was the exact same thing that we ate the night before. At the time I didn't really care since you can't go wrong with more mouth-watering lamb. OH WAIT... you CAN go wrong with too much lamb... as I found out later that night during our overnight train, keeled over and numb with pain at 4am. @_@

But backtrack to the dirty-ass market, aren't these munchkins so adorable?
I've never seen such a young child so adept at using chopsticks. Survival skillz.

Next time we pick up from our overnight train Dunhuang, our first stop in Gansu Province!