We kept Jiayuguan pretty short. We stayed there just long enough to see a couple things, sleep, and leave for Xi'an. We started the day with at 8:30AM with a 5 hour bus ride to Jiayuguan. Like Dunhuang, Jiayuguan is mostly famous for the sites around it, not the city itself. On day 3 we were lucky enough to see Jiayuguan Fort.
Historical context:
Jiayuguan Fort is at the western most part of the Great Wall. It was of enormous strategic importance because it controlled both the military and the trade link between China and Central Asia. The desert extends much further, but the Chinese stopped here because beyond this point "lay barbarian country, a place of perdition, fit only for exiled officials and banished criminals." - the packet TBC gave me
The fort itself was pretty cool. Walking around there were a few touristy things to do. I generally avoid them, but who can resist shooting a bow and arrow off the wall of the western most point of the great wall?
[Photo by Andrew Hargrove]
I missed. But I mostly blame that on the sand storm that hit us right when I bought my arrows. I was aiming a good 10 feet to the right hoping the wind would blow my arrow straight. Instead it shot left and almost hit someone walking along the left side of the wall (oops).
After that we walked around a bit. By this time, like most times, I'd completely lost track of our tour guide. We're provided with one everywhere we go, but within 5 minutes of getting somewhere I stop to take a pictures, and lose them in doing so. Anyway, I made a guess on where everyone was, and ended up being right. I unknowingly wandered out the outter most gate, and in doing so, I saw what every exiled official and criminal saw, nothing. Right as you walk through the gate you're about 10 feet under ground looking up a stone path, so literally all you see is sky and desert, with some distant mountains. It was kind of intimidating. But I made my way up the path and found everyone else. And, as is standard anywhere tourists go, there were a couple guys trying to talk us into renting a horse. To where, I have no idea.. I guess we could have gotten lost in the desert for a while, that would have been fun.
That's pretty much it for day 3, we got some dinner and went to a "reflection dinner." Which is us eating a free dinner and faining an "educational reflection" about our activities thus far.
Day 4: Jiayuguan - Xi'an
We woke to a 7AM morning call and as usual, we hung up and went back to sleep for another 45min. We checked out of the hotel at 8 and hopped on the bus to visit the Weijin Tombs and Hanging Great Wall.
Weijin Tombs
The Weijin Tombs sucked. I'm usually willing to look for a positive in anything, but we were bussed 45 minutes to no where, where we waited for 30 minutes, so that we could see 3 small underground tombs that the tour guide knew nothing about so she made guesses on what she thought the symbols on the wall meant. Yes, it was cool to see a thousand year old tomb. It was not cool to be led down a shady hole in the middle of the desert in China.
The Hanging Great Wall
In contrast, the Hanging Great Wall was awesome. It was rebuilt from a pile of rocks in 1987, so it looked pretty much brand new. I know, it's a little touristy, but it was still cool. When we got there they told us we had 30minutes then we had to leave for Xi'an. We were advised not to try to climb to the top: it's far, and we don't have time. We did it anyway. A few people literally ran down the wall, and part of the way up. Me being a little less ambitious, I walked quickly, skipping steps. I guess first, you should see a picture to get an idea of what we were dealing with:
[Photo by Andrew Hargrove]
Having gotten little sleep in the past 2 weeks, and being generally out of shape, about half way up we slowed down.. to a stop. To be fair, we probably got about 3/4 of the way up, but at that point we had a hell of a view, and we didn't want to be stranded in Jiayuguan (where is that exactly?), so we made our way back down, taking a few pics along the way. Some of them are definitely worth checking out, so see the picasa album at the end of this post.
Now its time to talk about something that really made our trip special.. a 20hr train ride. To be honest, it really wasn't all that bad.. but it's definitely worth talking about. The first thing I need to address is that Chinese people DO NOT do lines. It's not that they're inconsiderate (ok sometimes i really want to say they are, but its all cultural right?), its just that they don't really do lines. When you're trying to get from A to B, you try and get there as fast as possible. When entering a train station and boarding a train? That might mean an old lady throwing an elbow as she walks straight past 10 westerners ignorant enough to wait in line and puts her stuff in the x-ray machine on top of yours then strolls on through. (yes, that was me who got the elbow). It also means that getting on a subway, hailing a cab, getting a seat, ordering your food, or paying for anything, it's not yours until its in your hands. This especially applies to getting a seat on the subway. If it's crowded, and sometimes even when its not, its a dangerous maneuver going for a seat. You may well end up getting taken out on the way there, or at the very least uncomfortably sharing it. Same goes for getting on or off the subway. There's a limited time to do either, and it doesn't change if there are 20 people outside the doors trying to get in while 20 are trying to get out. Its a free for all. You lower your shoulder and run for it. Awesome.
Okay, so back to the train. It might best be explained with some pictures first:
Its customary to sit, stand, lay, eat, whatever on whoever's bed. We took full advantage.
[Photo by Andrew Hargove]
My Bed. Dimensions: approx. 2ft x 6ft
The common area, hallway, dining room, bedroom, and storage.
But really it wasn't bad at all. I was feeling pretty sick, so right when I got on the train I took a benadryl and passed out from 2 until 9:30. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that they turn the lights off at 10PM. So I got up, stretched and was ready to grab some food and play some cards when.. the lights turned off. Having just slept for 8 hours I wasn't really ready to go back to sleep. So I did what anyone would, I took two sleeping pills and slept for another 10 hours. Actually, I didn't sleep for 10. I would have, but I had a nice elderly Chinese lady start her TaiChi exercises next to my head at dawn. This is combination with Chinese people seemingly having only having one volume: LOUD, I woke up at 6. So, to be honest it really wasn't THAT bad. I got a lot of sleep, recovered some, and was relatively relaxed (allbeit with the aid of pretty strong sedatives).
Oh, I forgot to mention something: the bathrooms! This is something that really can only be explained with a picture:
This one is actually nicer because there's a sink. The other one was just a faucet that went onto the ground, and eventually into the hole in the ground, or "squatter."
That's it for Jiayuguan, next we're off to Xi'an, home of the Terra Cotta warriors!
Picasa Album: Silk Road Day 3-4: Jiayuguan
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