Me-go: Around-the-World

I spent two nights in Turpan, one day three of us hired a taxi from 7am until 7pm to take us around all of the sites. The highest my thermometer read was 104 and my French taxi partner was very disapointed. He thought it would be a lot hotter. My eyes began to water and feel strange in the afternoon and I think the heat was getting to them.

The cough I acquired in Dunhuang was still with me in Turpan but, even worse, my stomach started acting up. I spent most of our day of touring visiting toilets and had the distinction of going to the bathroom under a bridge across from the famous flaming mountains. In China you never know what causes your stomach problems. I’m convinced that just breathing the air here is slowly killing me so I’m not sure what the shower water is doing.

The bus from Turpan to Urumqi was an uneventful 2.75 hours on a beautifully paved road. We passed through a field of modern windmills that was quite impressive and saw a range of jagged, snowcapped mountains. Anglela, the Taiwanese girl I’ve been traveling with for the past few towns, and I took a local bus to the hotel we wanted to stay at but were turned away. Later, when she asked to book a room in a week she was told no again so we decided we weren’t wanted. She booked a tour to the far North of the region while I waited and tried to figure out the Chinese city map I had found. We called around to the hotels in the guidebook and many were full or wouldn’t take foreigners, including her. The tour agency told us that there weren’t many hotels taking foreigners and we might have to sneak me in somewhere.

Two Germans arrived and told us about their great hotel find near the railway station. We called and then took a bus across town. Wen we arrived we called again because we couldn’t find it and were told to stay put and look out for the “militatry-looking man.” Soon a man drove up in military uniform and told us that we couldn’t stay there, it wasn’t approved for foreigners. On the phone the man had asked where Angela was from and she said “here” because they always try to figure her out. In fact, I’ve noticed that she gets stared at more than I do on the street because she has fancy “quick dry” clothes and a strange hat but looks Chinese. Most people think she’s Japanese for some reason.

Many touts stand outside the railway and bus stations trying to get people to stay at their hotels, which is how the Germans found their place. In all my time in China I have never heard of foreigners not being allowed. It used to be a policy here but it was stopped a while ago. Apparently, because the military was involved, it is still an issue in Urumqi if not the entire Xinjiang Province. We found another hotel in the guidebook that said it took foreigners and flagged down a taxi. She just laughed and pointed “it’s right behind you.” Inside I let Anglea do the talking and they told her they had dorms with no access to showers at all or doubles. The doubles were 120 yuan and they could go no lower. I looked at them with my red, sweaty face and puppy dog eyes and said “eee bye kwai?” Then looked at each other and agreed I could pay 100. Angela finally admitted that she can not bargain in China and they take advantage of her Chinese. All together it took us four hours to find a hotel after arriving in Urumqi.

The hotel is literally right next to the train station so the train horns are loud but the hotel has key cards, big TVs and nice decoration. In fact, it’s the nicest hotel room I’ve had on my trip so far. Angela was leaving the next morning for the North so it only cost 50 yuan to share for the first night. We set out on bus #10 from the station to find a place that had food, banks, a supermarket and internet. We got off in front of a great supermarket with a KFC and a Bank of China. Unfortunately she needed to exchange traveler’s checks which can only be done at one large Bank of China in the center of town.

When we got to the center and took care of the banking we looked for a resturaunt. I wanted noodles and Angela suggested KFC. Never one to turn down fast food I agreed but the KFC we were told about was actually a Best Food Burger which is a Chinese chain. Apparently they use KFC to describe any fast food resturaunt here. She decided to take the bus back and we had our KFC while being watched by all of the customers. The woman next to us was talking about us and thought Angela was Korean and I was Russian. I get called Russian quite a lot in China, which is understandable given how close it is.

I headed off down the street to find an internet place so I could find out where I could pick up a visa. When you’re looking for an internet place they’re really hard to find. I found a small street with few cars and locals playing pool outside and selling fruit on the sidewalk. When I asked for directions a man told me to keep walking straight and then left so I did. Finally, when I was ready to turn around I saw three boys who looked around 18 so I showed them the character for internet that I had written down. One started to tell me and then looked over and said “Let’s go!” So he got to practice his English (I was only the second foreigner he’d ever seen) and I got an escort to the internet place. Everyone who meets me like this asks for me email. I suspect that they will be too shy to use it but someday I might get a ramdom email from someone in China that talked to me for five minutes somewhere during my trip.

The supermarket was huge and had diet coke so I stocked up. The women working there liked to follow me around suggesting things and I just shook my head, having no idea what they were saying. At one point I was considering which cereal to get and when one woman saw me, started talking, pointing and gave me a box of porridge. I shook my head, said “boo yow” and walked away with a Nestle variety pack. I guess she didn’t approve of my decision. When looking at facial cleaners another woman kept shoving whiteners at me and I had to walk away.

I ended up at the hotel with plenty of Western snacks, a full stomach and an address for the new location of the Kyrgyz Consulate. Figuring out where it was and how to get there would be a task for the next day.