Ni shuo yingwen ma?

Activities Vs. Culture

2008-09-29T08:26:00.009+08:00

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Ihsan is dumb, yet he thinks he's clever.

He spends a lot of his time creating highly complex theories in his mind to explain things that can often be explained without any effort at all simply by observing the situation without any unnecessary elaborated theorising.

His latest theory is that I, Usman, "don't like culture." Instead he claims that I only like activities. Ihsan had this epiphany when we were visiting Pulau Penang towards the end of our trip in Malaysia. After weeks of inflated hype and raised expectations I was a little disappointed by Penang, and this left Ihsan confused. He claimed that I was too stupid/ignorant to appreciate the history of the island and the remaining legacy of colonial rule. He compared the trip to Penang to Tian Chi, which I loved, and explained that I only enjoyed doing things and not experiencing things. I just can't appreciate culture.

In reality, I pointed out to him, Penang was a bit of a drag because it took us four hours to get there in his Landrover for a two the day trip that was cut in half, and the weather was atrocious. It was worse than England, grim and cloudy with almost constant rain the whole while that we were there. A good portion of the visit was spent on the porch of the Islamic History museum watching a tropical rainstorm that just wouldn't seem to end. Add to the story the fact that we were fasting so we couldn't try any of the fusion cuisines of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Baba Nonya food and there was little left for us to do. If it hadn't been for Ihsan's friend Anisa rescuing us, we would have had very little to remember.

Contrast this with the beautifully pristine surroundings of Tian Chi, the fantastic people, charming settlements and complete tranquillity and the comparison hardly seems fair.

Effectively we are both the same. We both love getting out there and exploring, we both cherish and respect new and interesting cultures, we both enjoy meeting new people and we are both low maintenance easy going travellers. We had three amazing months doing things that we'll remember for a very long time.

So what is the conclusion to the question of Activities vs. Culture?

I guess it proves that Ihsan is dumb...

Tian Chi - Heavenly Lake

2008-09-22T00:54:00.033+08:00

We'd always wanted to go into the wild but it felt as if we had just spent all our trip in these gigantic cities and their heavily populated surroundings. So a day after I had been vomiting, we set off for Tian Chi knowing that we had no time left to visit the renowned Karakul Lake by the Karakorum Highway.

Just a few hundred kilometres outside the bustling Urumqi in Xinjiang, lies one of the most beautiful sceneries in China. Hidden within snow-peaked mountain ranges, "Tian Chi" means Heavenly Lake and there's no reason not call it just that. The strange greenish blue waters of the lake, the alpine forests, and the mountains cast some kind of magic beauty to it. We loved every second spent here.

Getting here was easy as there are daily buses you can get from city centre but that also meant that the lake is heavily touristed. But we're glad that most people only stayed for the photos at the entrance and rarely left the tourist enclave - the rest of the place was devoid of them.
We only wanted to make a day trip to the lake but decided to spend the night when we stop at a local Kazak yurt for lunch. Welcoming us was an enterprising 11-year-old who managed to persuad us to stay rather than heading back to the city. We had a great time staying with his family - his mom cooked, his dad dealt with the bureaucracy (our police registration) and he and his little brother entertained us.

The bus journey was an annoying two hours on a Chinese tour bus, through vast desert, large mountains and fields of sunflowers, with the tour guide screaming proudly about every single little factory or random building along the way. But the bus could only get us so far and after that there was either a cable car ride (which almost everyone else took) or a trek through nature. Following are just a few of the fantastic photos we took over two days at Tian Chi. Unfortunately, due to being ill prepared, the good camera's battery died almost instantly but the photos still look great on the other camera.

A warning of the possible dangers ahead :p

The stream was flowing rapidly and was very cold and clear.

Off the beaten track - we left the hillside route and wandered into this serene valley

Ihsan ripped his trousers jumping across this stream. I found him on rolling around on his back wondering what just happened. Khainar's mum later repaired them for him!

The water was almost the same colour as my shirt.

A chain bridge hanging infront of a powerful waterfall

Khainar, 11, our charming guide, and his younger brother, 7.

We only went to their yurt to see if they were Muslim and we could get something to eat, but Khainar managed to convince us to stay the night. Temlik (delicious) food btw including fish caught in the lake.

We spotted the smoke rising from their settlement from a distance.

We hadn't really planned to stay at Tian Chi but by the time we had finished eating and had a little rest the whole area was deserted. Khainar's dad asked us if we wanted to go up into the mountains on horses; we had no idea that the area was even more spectacular than we could have imagined. Khainar took some amazing photos for us, he was a really cool kid.

Ihsan chatting to some of the local Kazakhs. Apparently almost all the Kazakh people in China are Muslim and they are the most kind and hospitable people you could meet. Sacha Baron Cohen is a nob for degrading these wonderful people.

Ihsan and Khainar on their horses

Grazing

Me and Ihsan roaming through the hills at a gentle pace. The horses wern't as well trained as the ones in Inner Mongolia and we were afraid of falling off some pretty steep cliffs.

Some sort of really sour cherry like fruits that Khainar picked for us.

Sitting by the lakeside at dusk.

Bedtime. It was downright chilly at night but we slept snugly in the thick blankets

Adorable. Khainar's brother wearing my giant headphones.

What a wonderful way to begin the day with breakfast in the fresh beautiful outdoors. Such a stark contrast to the choking pollution in the cities

The toilet... Unfortunately for Ihsan, he needed to go for a number 2.

The next day we wandered through the woods and climbed the hills. We sat by the side of the lake all morning listening to Sigur Ros while staring at the glistening blue water and the snowy peaks visible in the distance now that the clouds had gone. It was absolutely breathtaking and I still get a tingle in my spine when I think about it.

Picturesque is an gross understatement. Some of the Kazakhs offered to take us on a whole day trip on horse back to the snow line of those mountains visible in the distance but we had only brought enough money with us for a day's stay which we were very upset about.

While we sat lakeside an eagle circled above us for minutes and gracefully glided and dived very low down near the surface of the water.

Pure bliss and tranquility.

The official parlance

2008-09-20T17:54:00.003+08:00

On a day that ought to be declared auspicious, Usman mooted this great idea of “speaking in codes”. While at first I thought it was pretty pointless because at the time we were in China where English isn’t really widely spoken, the merits of a secret language dawned when we left China for Hong Kong.

Well it wasn’t really a secret new language or anything ridiculous like that. Basically it was just English with unnecessarily extravagant words, which we hoped would confuse even the most advance English speakers. We coined it a similarly unnecessarily extravagant name – “the Official Parlance”. Although it was hilarious that Usman never heard of the word “parlance”.

I can’t remember much of it anymore but we eventually had to speak like that for the rest of trip outside China, especially in Malaysia and much of Southeast Asia. We were so used to it we probably didn’t stop speaking in that way even when there was no one else around. We even started to speak a Chinese version of Official Parlance while we were in Thailand.

Unless you speak a completely incomprehensible language to the host country, a code language is definitely essential when you travel. Especially when it comes to haggling, purchasing or whenever you need to make quick decisions or when you need to say that something is suspicious - you need secret communication. You avoid offending people and you can strategise the next course of action without having to whisper or hide in a little corner somewhere.

In retrospect, it was funny speaking like that knowing secretly we looked so stupid.

-Ihsan

Che fan le ma?

2008-09-10T22:43:00.027+08:00

Everyone knows Chinese food is great. Its enjoyed all around the world is very popular in Britain. Still we were pleasantly surprised to find that Chinese cuisine is a lot more diverse and fascinating than we were used to and an integral part of the Chinese culture, it soon became one of our favourite past times.

Ihsan says these Tangbao (a type of small soup and meat filled dumpling, local to Xi'an) were his favourite, and you wouldn't argue with him from the look on his face.

What surprised us the most was the number of Halal options available to us, Muslim establishments were widespread and served a huge variety of cuisine. All we had to do was keep an eye out for the characters "Qing Zhen" "清真" literaly meaning pure truth, or Halal or anything associated with Islam. "清真" can be found everywhere from posh city centre restaurants to back alley stalls and even on supermarket shelves! With the exception of pork dishes we were able to try most major Chinese cuisines.

Traditionally pork and also chicken used to be the preferred meats for Chinese people, with mutton being considered filial animals, and cattle being considered beasts of burden. Beef and mutton were used as the Halal alternative to pork by Muslims and are now much more popular in China. We were mainly eating at Halal alleyway restaurants, or vegetarian restaurants and Buddhist temples which usually have a small strictly vegetarian restaurant inside for the residents monks as well as visitors.

For such a large country it is inevitable that there will be different culinary methods around the country. In Britain and many Western countries most Chinese restaurants are run by immigrants from Guandong and Southern China including Hong Kong so they serve a lot of South Chinese food. But there are also distinct Northern (Mandarin and Muslim), Eastern and Western (Sichuanese) styles.

Northern cuisine was favoured by the Imperial courts and had many influences. We tried one of its most famous dishes, Peking Duck, on our first few days in Beijing, after wandering down a few backstreets.

After watching the chef roast the glazed duck on a pole on an open fire oven, he brought out the duck and chopped it into thin slices.

The duck is eaten with scallions and cucumber with plum sauce, all wrapped in a thin pancake wrap. Delicious!

Nothing is wasted with the left over bones and excess fat made into a soup which is served last.

Another famous Northern dish we tried was Mongolian hotpot. It had been introduced to China by its Mongol invaders who used to use their helmets to boil meats during their rampages through Asia. Ihsan enjoyed it, but my first experience left me hot and sweaty wondering why i was paying so much to cook my own food.

Hot hot hot! We dipped a large selection of meats and vegetables in the hot pot which slowly change the flavours of the soup. Ihsan says their trademark sauce was not that great.

Traditionally Chinese cuisine has always been about balance. Meals usually consist of a number of dishes that are meant to complement each other, with the principals of yin and yang or hot and cold foods applying. There is also a variety of different meats and seafood as well as vegetables while grains such as rice usually considered a cheap filler. Chinese food really stimulates all the senses as dishes include a contrast of different colours and textures.

Several dishes including chicken with green peppers and chilli, vegetables, egg fried rice, chilli infused bread and green tea at a Uyghur restaurant in Beijing.

Traditionally Muslim cuisine included flat breads, kebabs and noodle soups.

Kebab stalls are everywhere around China and they're "temlik" (Uyghur for delicious). They are covered in various spices including chillies and cumin seeds and, although usually mutton or beef, also include tofu and seafood.

A Xi'an speciality, "yangrou paomo." You are handed some bread which you break into small pieces over which a mutton, or another meat, and soup and noodles are poured. My favourite.

Fruits are delectable and plenty in the Northwestern province of Xinjiang, famous for its grapes and watermelons amongst others.

Someone couldn't wait to finish their watermelon and left it in an ashtray in our hotel lobby.

Breakfast isn't really a proper meal in China apart from in the Guandong (dim sum etc.), but you can usually find dumpling shops or grab a bowl of rice to keep you going until lunch.

Breakfast at Tianchi included bread, potato and lots of green tea. Heavenly.

We had to plan ahead and stock up on packs of instant noodles for our epic train journeys; especially once i got really ill after eating at the train restaurant carriage. They taste pretty good and are stamped Halal.

We wouldn't recommend many chicken dishes in China because it is usually a WHOLE chicken, including the whole head and claws. Bizarrely there is no breast meat and lots of bones. Btw there really isn't anything meaty on the chicken's head to eat - we tried.

There might be another update, with the mouth burning Sichuanese and exotic Southern cuisines including a famous restaurant called Gaylord(!), if we can recover the rest of our photos. Sadly they seem to have been destroyed by a very nasty virus but I've still got my hopes up they will reappear.

- Usman

2008-09-03T14:53:00.000+08:00

Hey, its been ages since we had a proper update to this blog.

If anyone got a chance to get a glimpse of the old blog you might remember Ihsan writing about how uncool i think it is to keep a blog, but its grown on me over time. Although its a pretty handy way to keep people updated on our trip i also hope it might be usefull to someone planning their own trip. As anyone whose done sum independent travlling will have realised, guide books can be shit, its virtually impossible to keep them upto date and they make some embarrassingly stupid mistakes. So the more sources you check the more likely you are to understand things. Although there is a very strong argument for not really reading too much about a place and just experiencing it fresh which i'll probably write about later.

It seems alot longer than a month since we left China but we've still got loads of fond memories. The next few posts will be kind of retrospective looks back at the China leg, from the safety and comfort of Ihsan's air conditioned study, knowing that we wont need to explain to someone in Mandarin that we want to drag our bags next to the top berth on the train because we are going to be on it for 30 hours.

We've just arrived back from Siem Reap in Cambodia (Angkor Wat was immense) via Thailand and BAngkok which was nothing like what i expected! More to come...

-Usman

2008-08-28T16:45:00.000+08:00

Hey the seconds are running out at this internet cafe so im gonna keep it short.

We've been in Malaysia for a couple of weeks, touring KL n the Klang valley n doing tropical islandy stuff. Currently in Thailand... heading towards Angkor Wat.

Hope this works...

Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang

2008-08-15T19:37:00.001+08:00

Around the newly developed International Bazaar

Urumqi is Xinjiang's capital and a major Central Asian city. Despite being the city with the furthest distance from the sea, Urumqi is anything but isolated. Arriving from the east through the Gobi Desert the city seems to just appear out of the nothingness. This feeling however quickly evaporates once you are drowned by the sea of skyscapers and its millions of inhabitants.

We stumbled upon a Pakistani restaurant and loads of men in shalwar kameez.

It's a thoroughly Chinese Han city and there's little to suggest that this is the capital for the Uighur Autonomous Region. Much has been blamed on the China's policy of "planting" Han Chinese into the region to strengthen its grip on the oil-rich province but despite that there are still pockets of Uighur communities. The city feels just like another Chinese boomtown but with a twist of Central Asian influence and I thought that this a wise move by the government to encourage the traditional Uighur architectural style to dominate in the newer developments. On the facade, Beijing seems to give quite an autonomy to the province. Although this could easily be dismissed as merely token (possibly induced by tourism) but more importantly it's a gesture that acknowledges Xinjiang as a homeland for the Central Asian minorities. Yes there are problems and hostilities from both sides at the moment but maybe a new way forward is slowly forging towards a new Xinjiang one day.

The night before Usman fell ill...

We had an okay time here, there's not much to see but the Central Asian flavours felt here was a welcome change from the previous provinces that we've been to. Usman fell ill for a couple of days so I was left to my own devices most of the time. He was down with a mild fever that rendered him lying on the bed motionless. He recovered after a day but we agreed that he needs an extra day of rest. But it was fun to try and explore the city on my own and have only myself to blame whenever I got lost.

Inside the International Bazaar.

Urumqi's modern city centre was a bore and the touristic Uighur market was too fake but straying from these, I found colourful bazaars in the alleyways which reminded me of Morocco. However several days spent here, I realised that I'm completely bored of hopping from cities to cities and knew that I must get out and see some wilderness.

Wuyi Lu Night Market

2008-08-10T00:25:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates recently but we've been really busy for a variety of reasons including ill health and a serious lack of planning. Being spontaneous was cool to begin with, and it took alot of effort to convince Ihsan its ok, but we're still wandering around China and the summer is almost over.

Since the last update we've been travelling further along the silk road which was our original, rather simplistic plan. From the old imperial capital of Xi'an we moved Northwest back to depessing Lanzhou for a second time, and then towards the "New Frontier" of China, Xinjiang, which has more in common with Pakistan and other central Asian countries. We visited Urumqi, Turpan and Kashgar as we crossed the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts and were almost at the border with Pakistan! Lots of updates will follow about our ventures "into the wild" (finally) and some security incidents and stuff.

Suddenly realising how many days we had wasted because of Ihsan having a shit passport and me having a shit immune system we had no choice but to fly out of Urumqi. In hindsight we had been pretty nieve thinking that we could travel a country that is more like a continent by road and rail alone. We're currently in Chengdu, Sichuan province, which was recently devastated by a strong earthquake, and we have been prevented from going to Tibet (a big sarcastic xiexie to Phill Bartell, Tirian Mink, Iain Thom and Lucy Marion for making it difficult for everyone else). With out our planned grande finale of our first leg of this tour, we again have no firm plans and anything is possible. With a target date around 16th August to get to Malaysia, the South East Asia part of the tour is on hiatus. Watch this space for where we'll end up.

-Usman

Xi'an

2008-07-28T20:30:00.001+08:00

Ah the fabled city Xi'an.

It's one of those quashed dreams.. again over-romanticised by our own ignorance. I imagined that Xi'an being the starting point of the ancient Silk Road to be a little bit more old and dusty than Beijing, teeming with tea-traders, artisans' workshops and silk weavers. But again it is another thoroughly industrialised and modern city.

The Muslim Quarter (during the day(top) and at night (bottom))

Cycling on the city wall was fun, we had a few races and I beat Usman 4 times. He complained he got a bad bike and we swapped bikes - he still lost.

But thankfully, there are still remnants of the Silk Road that survived the onslaught of China's intensity to be modern, sleek and international. We liked Xi'an. It's very touristy but there are still few places where you can find genuine experiences. Being a capital for 13 dynasties, it boasts grand architectural relics especially from the Ming dynasty and Tang dynasty.

The Big Goose Pagoda is beautiful and exemplifies the clear geometry of Tang dynasty architecture.

In a teahouse, where we got a room with a TV, computer with internet access, and a mahjong set!

Usman sipping a cup of Huang Shan tea (cheapest in the menu) enjoying the good life...

Usman devised a game that we could play with the mahjong set which he lost. Notice the pitiful number of mahjong pieces he had and compare it to mine! Try again Usman.

There is also Muslim Quarter right in the heart of the city centre, which is slightly geared towards tourists (bus loads of them) but manages to preserve its character nevertheless. Food here was great and atmosphere lively. At night it feels like a Marrakech with its al fresco restaurants. Souvenir shops dominate but seem to be a little ignored. As you move away from the main shopping street, the Quarter becomes much more genuine. The community life takes centre stage in the absence of hording tourists. Restaurants here are for the locals so it was a lot cheaper and this is where I found the best baozi (dumplings) yet. Even if you've got nothing to do, the quarter is just a great place to just linger around and meet ultra friendly locals.

Dinner in the Muslim Quarter with Henrik

From Xi'an, we went on to visit the Terracotta Army just outside town to have a look at ourselves "the great artistic achievement and a display of enormous power by the First Emperor" but only to return a bit underwhelmed. I don't really know why. Maybe it's the rampant over-tourism (visit to fake terracotta army-making factories, stops at tea house etc.) or just the huge swarms of people or maybe I feel like the real significance of this whole thing is the historical context. Although these terracotta figures itself are important cultural relic in China, they are just a manifestation of what's really on display - the absolute power of the First Emperor. The tourists' quick lazy photo-ops with statues just pissed me off. Maybe that's why Usman thinks I'm a bit geeky. Don't care, like I always say, GEEKS RULE THE WORLD.

-Ihsan

That joy on Usman's face...

Linxia - a very Muslim town

2008-07-23T18:17:00.000+08:00

From Hohhot, we head west to Linxia in Gansu province. It's a bit out of the way as it's not exactly in the rail network but getting there wasn't that difficult. Linxia is not exactly on the tourist trail and there's not much here but we were attracted to Linxia by the lure of it's Muslimness. We all know that there are millions of them scattered around in China and that Islam came to China through the Silk Road. But what of their language, their custom and their culture? Who are these Muslims who have long lived in obscurity from the rest of the Muslim world?

That guy with skullcap was the imam who helped us to get to Linxia.

On the train we were lucky to be placed in the same carriage with a group of Chinese imams who were heading back to their hometown Linxia. They happily greeted us and were pleased to have met Muslims from far-flung places. What's more, Usman's being a European Muslim must've ignited such a curiosity. Both sides tried to engage in conversation but our Chinese was too basic. The imams were a funny and loud (but never over-the-top) bunch and for their advanced age it seemed odd. Hardly the image of a restraint character you would expect from people of their stature. These imams are pretty well-travelled, they speak Arabic fluently (at least that's what we thought) and told us to learn it - we felt slightly inadequate. One imam had lived in both Saudi and Pakistan and are able to speak Urdu. It was pretty surreal to see Usman and a Chinese person spoke Urdu. Another had studied in an imam-training college for Chinese nationals in Malaysia. Apart from counting 1 to 3 in Malay, he couldn't speak it (he said Malaysian place names in Chinese, which was funny. "Kuala Lumpur - Jilompo").

When we arrived in Lanzhou, the imams helped us to get to Linxia. Instead of getting the bus which was cheaper, they decided to take the taxi as this would be easier for us. One even helped us right till we checked in and have put all our bags in our room. He gave us his number in case we needed any help.

Even before arriving in Linxia we were struck by the sheer number of mosques in the region. We saw almost a hundred mosques just on the way to the town. The two imams that were in the same taxi as us must've thought we were being a bit weird for getting a bit excited every two seconds. As we move closer to the town, the Muslim character began to dominate every part of the landscape. More and more men wear skullcaps ("topi" as Usman call it, normal people call it kopiah) and women with headscarf - some wear a distinct Chinese-style hijab and many with the Malaysian-style tudung.

In one of the many mosques in Linxia. This one in particular is one of the most beautiful I've seen.

Linxia itself feels like a Muslim country, but still remarkably Chinese. The skyline is dominated by mosques, everyone wears a skullcap or hijab, almost everything here is halal but they have deeply assimilated into a Chinese identity. It's bustling place with commerce and summer produce lining up all the streets. It's not exactly Shanghai but not deprived as well. I'm glad Muslims here are doing quite well.

Linxia rarely gets foreign visitors, so it was natural that we got stared at all the time here. Although when we were there, we met a group of Americans, which surprised both us (and them). The Americans thought we were English-speaking Uighurs. Don't blame them, we confused everyone on this trip, our identities aren't easy to figure out. But unsurprisingly, being Muslims most people in Linxia knew Usman is Pakistani and I'm Malaysian. One old guy kept on saying "Malayu! Malayu!" whenever I walk past his antique shop.

-Ihsan

Hohhot

2008-07-21T01:30:00.000+08:00

Hohhot is Inner Mongolia's capital city. What we thought would be a far-flung outpost is actually just another modern boomtown in China. You see few Mongols here as well, despite it being a capital city of the Mongol Autonomous Region. It was dusty and busy but we actually found the city pleasant. Halal food was everywhere (the city have a substantial Hui population) and people are extremely helpful around here. We liked the city main square, and were lucky that it was spruced up for the Olympic torch relay that came to the city while we were there. At night it was heaving with people, playing games and singing. The Old Town was my favourite part of the city, boasting a thriving antiques (or fake antiques) market and beautiful old architecture. The prices are rarely overly inflated to foreign tourists as these shops target the local Chinese tourists. It's a good place to buy traditional Chinese swords as it costs barely 15 quid for a very finely crafted one. We wanted to get one but decided not to knowing that it will be a nightmare walking around China with a sword - Usman looks like a Xinjiang separatist and I have an almost useless passport.

On a motor-powered rickshaw.

The city square lits up and becomes a massive playground.

Hohhot's old mosque is a beautiful demonstration of universality of Islam.

The old town has one of the best market we've seen.

The bustling Muslim street in Hohhot makes finding halal food easier than in England.

The new development next to the Old town mimics old architecture but feels a bit boring. Look at Usman's face.

Inner Mongolia and shattered dreams

2008-07-20T23:46:00.001+08:00

The name Inner Mongolia conjures up vast beautiful grasslands, nomadic herders, and yaks roaming around along with wild horses. How wrong can we be. Arriving in Hohhot (Huhehaote in Chinese) we were greeted by an industrial boomtown that looks nothing like what we imagined it to be. Checking in to the hotel was painful enough, we were complacent in Beijing with our (Olympic) English-speaking staff who were used to having foreign guests. We thought we knew enough Chinese. It was almost impossible to communicate. The accent was so different here, so we tried to console our own stupidity. They guy who helped us checked in spoke as if Chinese language is so logically easy that it's unacceptable that we couldn't get a word that he was saying. He called someone on the phone, who translated the whole process to Usman (Usman's better at understanding Chinglish than me). When we checked in to our room, the guy he wouldn't leave and kept on saying things. He left after a few minutes muttering the most complex Mandarin on the planet. Only word I got was "xiaojie" which means "girl/young lady". So I told Usman he might've meant prostitutes or something. I couldn't be more wrong - he came back, brought some soap and towels.

The Chinglish translater (told us her name was Mary) later came to the hotel to sell her "grasslands tour". She proper scammed us that ogress of a woman. For a very expensive price, she promised a halal meal for our lunch and a two-day tour for just the two of us. When she came back next morning for the tour, she said there'll be other people who'll join us on the trip. We just said yea fine. Whatever right. It wasn't that big a deal anyway. (we later learned that they were the manager's family members or something). On the van, she spoke ceaselessly. Her Chinglish was not that annoying, it was her invasion of our personal space that annoyed me. It feels like she was right in front of our faces. Usman quickly descended on to a pretentious sleep, so I had to be the polite one nodding for few hours to her fake affinity for Mongol culture.

When we got to the supposedly Mongol camp, we were disappointed to learn that it was not an authentic nomadic settlement. The Mongol yurts are built on concrete bases and there was karaoke. The grasslands were pitiful and there were several of the same disneyfied tourist villages dotting around the area. Mary quickly led us to the horses and in her own sick psychological way pressured us to rent the horses for extortionate prices. We haggled for so long and were almost gonna leave it. We managed to reduce the price but it was still so expensive.

The "herdsman" (a full-time Disney costume-wearing Mongol) brought us to what they claim as "his house" where we had some tea and cookies. He then brought us to a place where they thought the grass is long and was the most scenic - it wasn't. Everything was artificial so we thought the stupidly expensive horse ride was almost pointless. They were going to bring us to a lake which was again "scenic" but we couldn't be arsed so we told him we want to go back to the (concrete) camp.

Coming back, Mary told us we have to pay extra for the mutton that they have prepared for us. From the way she was persuading us, we knew she doesn't know shit about halal meat and that her greedy hungry eyes were trying her luck with scamming us for the third time. We told her not to bother ordering it, we'll just eat the veggies. The mutton came anyway. we refused to touch it. After we had lunch she came back with another mind-boggling attitude, she was persuading us to go back to the city and cut the trip short. She said she'll refund almost half what we paid. We gladly accepted and then left her to wander around the grasslands.

We watched a fake Mongolian wrestling match and horse race which was quite entertaining despite the lukewarm response from the Chinese tourists. Mary then called us to speak to us again. I knew there was something wrong. She said she can't give the money back and we have to stay in the fake yurts as we've paid it. She was leaving us on our own with a mute guide (she didn't seem to speak Chinese or English or Chinglish). So if we still wanted to leave she said we'll only get 10 quid back. We were too exhausted to maul her onto the ground and rip her throat out, so we just agreed to go back to the city and get the measly 10 quid back. She must've been so rich on one day, she couldn't be bothered to be our guide in a stupid Disney-yurt. She must've been imagining the countless things she could do with the money all day. Bitch.

-Ihsan

Beihai Park

2008-07-20T01:10:00.000+08:00

We've always wanted to do taichi in a large square somewhere, so one day we decided to wake up early (though we realised our definition of early was pretty late in Chinese terms) and head to Beijing's wonderfully landscaped Beihai Park. When we got there on our bikes, it felt like midday already and no one seemed to be doing taichi but instead we found a group doing some sort of aerobics. It was funny but I decided to give it a go anyway.

-Ihsan

Our journey on Google map

2008-07-19T23:48:00.000+08:00

You can see where we travelled so far on the interactive header that I've just painfully added on top of the page. You can move it about and zoom it in or out. Looking at it, it looks like we've travelled for thousands of miles but in fact we're still in the same (more or less) cultural region - Mandarin-speaking Han majority (with slightly different dialects), same Northern cuisine, huge commercial boomtowns and still not the enigmatic China we've been dreaming of...

-Ihsan

Chinese train station

2008-07-19T20:50:00.000+08:00

Nothing prepared us for Chinese train stations. They probably epitomise the country best, I think. It's intensely chaotic, packed with what seem like a godzillion of people rushing about, lawless, but when it comes to asking for help, there's always someone in there offering you some respite in the madness.

The flash flood in Beijing Train Station

Buying a ticket was probably one of the most challenging things in China (we haven't ventured far enough you might conclude), could easily take few hours of your day. Queueing is somewhat considered pointless as you can just push your way through to the front of the ticket counter raising no eyebrows whatsoever from neither people who already queued nor the person inside the counter. If you're ignorant and arrogant enough (like I was at first) you'd easily fall prey to anger and disgust at this apparently inconsiderate behaviour. But as we get to know the Chinese people better, it striked us that they're just so accommodating that stuff like that don't actually get to them.

Usman enjoying his first-ever torrential rain experience

On the night we went to get the train tickets in Beijing, it rained heavily and some parts of the road around the station was flooded. The station itself leaked, the staircases turned into waterfalls. Quite a scene. You can't imagine the chaos that ensued, days of being complacent in the earlier few days made me less prepared for this sort of thing so it was natural that I got a bit edgy. Usman was well happy though. He had never seen such excitement and chaos insisting that we have to enjoy this moment. You know how Usman's like when he argues. And to top it all, Nat West called me to get some money off me making this whole thing seem a bit surreal at the time. Those bastards at the bank, why can't they just wait.

-Ihsan

On the phone with Nat West trying to explain that I'm halfway across the fucking globe

Great Wall trip

2008-07-18T15:45:00.001+08:00

The best thing about the whole Beijing Shi area is definitely the Great Wall. I wasn't that excited about it before, knowing that I've seen it so many times already on TV and countless pictures of it. So it wasn't going to be a surprise in any way, so I thought.

We went to Wall with a group of Swedes (who had just finished their semester one in Auckland) and had a nice English-speaking guide. In the pamphlet description of the trip, it says "Visit to Great Wall at Simatai and Ming Tombs as well as shopping". Little did we know that "shopping" would actually dominate the whole trip and it's not shopping in the normal sense. We were hoarded up to two jade factories, a pottery workshop and a tea-selling teahouse on the pretext of discovering Chinese culture and art but later discover that they're all massive tourist traps that expect you to buy, buy, and buy. There are few bizzarre things that our guide wanted us to do:

1. Tell everyone we're Americans.
2. Don't tell the second jade factory that we've already been to one just an hour ago.
3. Buy him a jade ball on a stick?!! for him (he gave the money). err.. We dont know why.

The Ming Tombs were an amazing piece of religious/dynastic architecture but we were too drained to even pay attention to our guide.

By the time we got to the Ming Tomb, we're already drained. I tried to summon up the architecture geek in me but everything seem like we've been there, done that. So we could not be arsed to pay attention to what the guide was saying. Only thing I remembered about it was the way he pronounced "Ming Dynasty" strictly pinyin way. And oh yeah after that I tried to haggle for an already dirt-cheap pack of playing cards in a nearby stall and got told off.

Before the gruelling climb....

Don't look at me kneeling down to Usman for help, look at how steep the wall drops.

But the Great Wall was amazing. It vindicated the cheesy-ness of all the other stuff in the trip. We were extraordinarily lucky that the weather was good. The climb was quite challenging, I felt stupid for not realising that climbing the Great Wall amounts to climbing a mountain. I was practically crawling on the Wall's staircase for an hour or so. Usman was laughing. For once in his life, he felt superior. But seriously it was really steep. It's like 45 degrees or something ridiculous like that and looking back you can see yourself dropping down few hundred metres into the deep ravines. But nothing describes the feeling of arriving to the highest point on the Wall, you feel rewarded straight away and yes the view was amazing. I even decided to inflict an astronomical phone bill on myself by calling my mom while we're on top of the mountain.

So overall, it was a good trip. We enjoyed ourselves.

-Ihsan

Find Usman in this picture.

The view was amazing

More Beijing

2008-07-18T14:16:00.000+08:00

This post might not make that much sense because I just went through the pictures and posted them here. They're not in any particular order but are highlights of our stay in Beijing:

Getting around Beijing on bikes was great. It's definitely the cycling capital of the world and I don't see any reason why you shouldn't use one here. Parking space for bikes are everywhere (that is if you care, you can park anywhere really) and bicycle lanes are not an afterthought but an integral part of the road system. Oh road system! How can you not love the road system. Basically, apart from traffic lights telling you to stop or move on, the Chinese roads are absolutely lawless. Pedestrians are so crazy and brave here, they never care about speeding vehicles or anything. They expect everyone to stop for them. The rule here as I keep on saying to Usman is not to show a single speck of hesitation - just walk and don't look right or left. Usman said he'll include that pearl of wisdom in my eulogy. Everybody honks at everybody, everybody drives insanely and tries to over take using the opposite lane (and expecting oncoming cars to move away) but no one gets pissed off. NO ONE. If you tryed it in England, you'd get the obligatory "you fucking prick" shouts but here it's not like you've done anything wrong. It's just the way you do it. Crazy drivers like Abdul Rauf and Zaar would've loved it.

Beijing underground metro station

We used the metro every now and again whenever we can't be arsed cycling. This is one of the places where you can't help but to feel the sheer density of the city. Some of the lines have just been completed recently for the Olympics but it's already running on capacity load.

Singing traditional Chinese music, practising opera songs with erhu players and writing caligraphy on pavements - Chinese culture is alive and well.

Despite rampant Westernisation, I'm pleased that we can still see Chinese culture in the public squares and parks. In the Temple of Heaven Park, people come not just to visit the grand architecture but Beijingers particularly come here to chillax (Usman's word). People were singing, playing traditional musical instruments, traditional games and were doing some exercise. Old people seem happy in China. They well cared for, they have many friends and so many things to do - morning taichi in the square, afternoon Chinese Opera singing with "erhu" players, and more recently Olympic torch relay-watching.

Temple of Heaven

Our hostel in Beijing

The hostel that we stayed in was pretty good. The staff were friendly and spoke some English which is a relief. We feel stupid for thinking (maybe expecting as well) that people would speak some English here. We have a Beginner's Chinese book with us but never really got around to learn much from it. I learnt 3 chapters of the 21. Usman learnt 2. So yeah you can imagine how we've been struggling ever since we left Beijing. A simple thing like telling the taxi-driver-man (my new word) where to go is a daunting task in itself. Thankfully we've got a phrasebook with all the Chinese characters in it.

-Ihsan

Beijing Zoo - pleasant park but the animals seem to be inhumanely kept.

Giant Panda - Usman's latest obsession

Beijing

2008-07-18T12:15:00.002+08:00

We arrived in Beijing in the middle of the night and the airport was half-empty and the toilets were ultra-clean. Getting to city centre was hell enough but we managed to get to our hostel. Beijing is massive and too familiar for me. A bit like Kuala Lumpur, concrete city with make-believe local culture. Our first breakfast was a McDonald's wasabi flavoured fish fillet burger. Usman liked it. I thought it tasted weird.

First meal in China - WASABI FILLET-O-FISH! Disgraceful.

Finding halal food in Beijing was easy enough. We were surprised how easy it was actually. Usman said "it's easier than England". Muslim establishments are everywhere and they are usually marked with some sort of Arabic signs. They usually serve noodles but some have Beijing specialty like Peking Duck (which was amazing). In fact as we discovered later, halal food is virtually everywhere in China.

Usman trying out his Hotpot.

Lamasery.

Chinese people are incredibly friendly. Sometimes when we asked for directions, we were often led to the place even if it took them 15 minutes (or more!). One time when we were looking for a new hostel in Beijing, this guy came to us and offered his help without hesitation. He called the hotel, told them the details and after that walked us to the hotel. It probably took about 40 minutes of his time but he was so pleased that he could help us. And that was not the last that we receive of this sort of kindness.

In front of the Tiananmen Gate

That said, sometimes we do get pissed off (can't help it sometimes). Despite their generosity, Chinese people have absolutely no concept of personal space or privacy. Usman get stared at so much, he's beginning to feel uncomfortable. Sometimes he get stared at at a very close range it's ridiculous.

Cow Street Mosque

We've left Beijing ages ago, so I don't know what to write about. So hopefully the pictures will do all the talking. I'll add more photos, I'm off to Friday prayers.

-Ihsan

New site! (pictures later!)

2008-07-17T16:43:00.001+08:00

Finally a new blog.

The previous site was stupid and stingy with uploads so I've been hunting for a new site as we have too many pictures and vidoes to show and we're not even halfway yet in our journey. I wanted to start a blog on this site from the beginning but it never worked except here in Xi'an. I never thought Chinese internet censorship would be so effective! I dont know why it works here in this hostel but oh well don't care.

I can't start putting the pictures yet though, I've been hogging this computer in the (free) internet cafe for far too long I feel like everyone's breathing down my neck hinting me to piss off. Usman and I will continue to update this site depending on whether Big Brother allows it and whenever we have the time. I have a feeling I will be the one doing this but I'd like to remain optimistic with Usman.

Just a quick update before I start flooding the site with photos n videos: We left Beijing after spending a week there and then moved on to Inner Mongolia's capital city to pursue Usman's romantic dreams of living a nomadic life in epic grasslands (will tell you how that went horribly wrong). After that we went further inland to the Gansu province visiting a very Muslim town (and autonomous Muslim prefecture) called Linxia where we saw Muslim community not just alive and well but seeming to flourish with the continous building of new mosques. Leaving the town we head for Gansu's depressing capital city Lanzhou where we hoped to extend my visa (we were told to go to Xi'an). And now we're in Xi'an, a fabled city of the ancient Silk Road.

So keep on checking the site! I can't add the pictures yet, people are crowding this place and sneering as they munch and drink. Will do it as soon as possible! Hope you guys will keep on coming and see how we're doing.

-Ihsan