July 2011

I think I now understand the meaning of “Tourist trap”. This is how we felt. We listed ourselves for the tour to the Qinghai lake. The 16-pax minibus is full of Chinese tourists except us. None of us knew the full itinerary and what was exactly included in the tour. We had several unprogrammed stops – Dang er ancient city, a small Buddhist temple, a Tibetan “village” and finally the lake. The entire tour are interrupted regularly for souvenir shopping included free of charge. We realized that the tour only included transport and everything else is payable, even the ticket to the lake.

The 18^th century ancient city is just a street with buildings renovated on both sides. I am sure Confucius may not appreciate, the yuans claimed for yak ride, the souvenir shops around his school, the fashion show disguised as folk dance introduction. We bypassed the Buddhist temple to the great displeasure of the ticket seller who scolded us for being too close to the entrance. The “Tibetan village” is totally fake. Even Disneyland look real, the tents are total empty shells, with a pond for romantic boat escapade. The only attraction was the costume trial which everybody enjoyed and was worth the 20 Yuans. The Lake climax was unique in the world not for its 3600 m altitude but for the mercantilist attitude. I have never paid money to see a lake, or the sea. Even the Tibetan villagers were guarding any alternative routes and claiming money. Lunch was a desperate attempt to lighten the day and was paid by the friendly Shanghai couple who are the only ones to speak English. The village where we stopped reminds me of one of the Far West towns with one street and façades.

I wonder if this attitude will encourage tourism growth or this total disdain will discourage new comers. Unfortunately I believe there will always be some very willing volunteers to test these traps.

Easy 3 hour train where we were seated next to 2 Chinese young women playing all their charm on us. Matters got complicated when we reached Lanzhou. We never found the hotel booked on internet. By 1H00 am we were so relieved to find one, we did not negotiate and just took it and slept like a log.

If we had to choose a town to avoid, it would be Xining. Lonely Planet mentions 2.1 million people in 2009 and it is probably over 3 million now. Any buildable m² has been built over the old town with about 25 floors on each plot. And the town is still sprawling like and ink stain over the landscape. It is amazing that the people still manage to find a livable human life in between the skyscrapers, inserting food stalls and markets. People live, smile and laugh.

The people are a strange mix with Tibetans in the dark red robes walking around town, the Chinese Hui (real Hans converted to Islam) and the Hans themselves coexist.

The Kumbum 16^th century monastery built a few km away from the city gives a breath of fresh air to the city. Suddenly one sees himself inside another life with monks working at their every day duties. It is a pity that the Chinese tourists inundate the place not only with their overwhelming presence, but even drive their cars inside the monastery walls.

We decided to change our itinerary away from the cities and try to follow an alternate route through some villages to Xi’an.

The Emperor Jingdi tumb was much more revealing of the life of the dynasty in these days than the Terracotta warriors. The museum is well designed and gave us an excellent insight of the period. It is unfortunate that the English texts were so succinct.

We went on a shopping craze this afternoon and bought mainly clothes and shoes for Kim. I think he loved it. Tomorrow will be our last day in Xi’an before Hong Kong.

We chose this destination instead of Wuwei on the way to Lanzhou. It allows us to go through another province the Qinghai

Are good manners a cultural issue? Simple things such greetings of the day seem to bear different values here in China and in Central Asia. The “Ni hao” or “Have you eaten today?” are not equivalents to the Western “Good morning”. They are sometimes said and most of the time just omitted or ignored. French people would be horrified not to be greeted by a “Bonjour” and by a “Meio” before you utter your question. Millions of Chinese never use it. Queuing seems to start here in China as opposed to Central Asia, although one would be pushed around if we try to let the ladies and children go first. We nearly missed the train by avoiding pushing our way through. It appears almost as a survival reflex. Of all my travels to nearly 100 countries, I have only met 3 nations with such an attitude, China, India and Nigeria. Kim is not put off by this attitude and is tolerant considering these as forming part of local ways and that some day they may learn, thinking that cleanliness should be learnt first.

We are on our way to Xining. We do not have the heavy music, but our driver is an angry hooter. He cannot stand the slightest movement of any vehicle or pedestrian hinting that they may be on his way. Stop “pipi” at Minte.

We just went through a 3 685m pass to reach the Eastern Tibet plateau. The landscape is totally different and we are now in the Qinghai province. Green soft rounded pastures, rivers and lakes with free yaks and horses grazing. A few shepherds with their tents and no yurts. This is the only difference with Kyrgyzstan. Stupas here and there. Surprisingly we noticed also mosque domes in the villages we pass.