5 - Dial M for Mutton (Lake Karakul)

Kashgar to Lake Karakul, CHINA - 17 june 2002

Jane and I bade farewell. Our trip together had finally come to an end. She was heading back to Ürümqi this evening as she had a flight to Xi’an the next evening. Meanwhile, I had decided to go to Lake Karakul which is about three-quarters of the way from Kashgar to Tashkurgan (which is the last town towards Pakistan on China’s side).

This route would be part of the famous Karakoram Highway from Islamabad in Pakistan, across the Khunjerab Pass to Kashgar. The scenery, we had heard, was supposed to be amazing.

Sitting on the right side of the bus, I had fantastic view most of the time. However, the road was very bad. Many sections had caved in and the bus-driver had to keep steering the bus onto the rocky section, in order to bypass the disintegrated parts of the road. The trip, as a result, took a longer time than it should be.

After seven hours of rather harsh travelling, a lady next to me indicated this was Lake Karakul and we (a few other tourists and I) had to shout to the driver several times before he stopped for us.

At first glance, I did not think Lake Karakul was worth the effort to come out here specifically. OK, the weather was very cloudy today and spoiled the view, I supposed. With good lighting, the lake could be beautiful. But the people managing the lake had added barbed wires, which looked pretty useless to ward off anything, around the lake and there were even ten dilapidated pool-tables next to the lake. The one or two shops here were in ugly tin cans.

They had not only come and destroyed the view, they were the most unfriendly hosts I had encountered in a long time. We tried to negotiate for a cheaper price for the yurt but were unsuccessful. OK, we had no other choice. But after we paid, they simply left us there, with no hot water nor offers of extra blankets. It felt as if they knew they had had us. Where else could we go?

Before we went for a walk, we inquired the price for food here. Everything was more expensive. Rice was Y5 (usual, Y1). Veggies was Y10 (usual, Y3-6). Meat was Y20 and above (usual, Y6 and above). Fried rice was Y15 (usual, Y3-5). Once again, we knew we had no choice.

However, by the time we were hungry and tried to order food, they now informed us - Veggies was Y20 and meat was Y40 and above. This was ridiculous. I argued with them that this was really unfair as how could the price have doubled in the last 2 hours? Instead of negotiating for a compromise, they simply retorted, “Who told you the price earlier? Who told you?!?!?!”

We were all very cross and the people I was with - Andie from Wales, June from Singapore and Sin Hai from Japan - decided to flee the lake first thing tomorrow morning. I chose not to eat anything that night.

The altitude of Lake Karakul was probably 4000+ m. I had no idea! I did not even pack my sleeping bag. I was shivering from cold the entire night as I lost a lot of heat from the poorly-insulated mattress. I seriously was not sure if I could survive til morning.


Lake Karakul to Kashgar, CHINA - 18 june 2002

I did.

With an excellent blue sky the next morning, I decided to give Lake Karakul another chance. After we packed, June and Sin Hai headed out to the highway to try and hitch a ride at once. Andie wanted to sit by the lake and I decided to walk along the lake towards Tashkurgan and see if I could hitch a ride to Tashkurgan when things got boring.

Yes, now, away from the negative energy at the main yurt area, I felt very at peace and found the lake indeed to be gorgeous.

I passed by a Kyrgyz village after an hour’s walk. A family beckoned me over. The guys here wore hats that were new to me. They were made of felt, were white with black embroidery and pretty tall. Even a baby with no underwear was wearing a small version. I sat with the family, gesturing to the mothers that their babies were very cute. The teenage brother of the two ladies could speak Mandarin and provided translation for us. After a while, they invited me in for some naan and yoghurt.

I proceeded on my trek in the direction of Tashkurgan. For a long time, there were no vehicles going towards Tashkurgan. Most vehicles were heading towards Kashgar. I started to wonder if I ought to try and return to Kashgar instead. I rounded a bend and fought hard against the strong head-wind that nearly tossed me in the air. I had no choice now but to return round the bend and wait, to avoid the wind. So, now I could no longer head towards Tashkurgan anymore.

At 11:30am, I recalled that the daily bus from Tashkurgan to Kashgar would pass by here around noon and decided to forget about Tashkurgan and return to Kashgar. I just crossed the road and merely waited for 30 seconds before the daily bus came by. How lucky I was!






Kashgar, CHINA - 19 june 2002

Well, today would be a rest-day for me. I simply headed to the Ren Min Park, discovered it required an entrance fee as usual, refused to pay for it and and sat outside the park under the shade to update my journal.

Ali, who worked at the travel agency at my hotel, cycled by, recognised me and stopped. We chatted for a while and he suggested I visit the Abakh Hoja Tomb or Fragrant Concubine Tomb which contain 58 tombs or coffins from the Uyghur family of Abakh Hoja.

The story was that a grand-daughter of Abakh Hoja was called Fragrant Maid because she had legendary body aroma. She was so beautiful and aromatic that she later became the concubine of Emperor Qian Long, hence, the alternative name of the tomb. This became a famous Uyghur-Han Chinese union. Well, now I know how aromatic her body odour had been…


Kashgar to Ürümqi, CHINA - 20 june 2002

I had travelled from Ürümqi to Kashgar on the luxurious express train. On realising there was a regular train at half the price but with a travel time longer by 6 hours, I took it for my return trip to Ürümqi. I mean, there was not much difference if the train ride was 30 hours, compared to 24 hours. I just had to sleep longer. But the money saved sure made a difference. Well, good bye, shish kebabs…

Nothing eventful happened. As usual, when the attendants or police or fellow train commuters realised I was from foreign lands and could speak Mandarin, I was subjected to their vigorous interrogations and inquisitive queries. They would always ask me how much I earned. After my reluctant reply, the scene would turn ugly as they lambasted their poverty, their jobs, their government, their wives, etc… It often got quite embarrassing.

A train attendant appraised me carefully and asked, “So, if I marry you, can I enter Singapore?” Err…


Ürümqi, CHINA - 21 june 2002

When we arrived in Ürümqi, just before I got off the train, the train attendant from yesterday looked at me funny again. I feared he would really propose. But he did not. Phew… Or perhaps, I had just lost my last chance for happiness, you think?

I changed my travel plans and decided to go straight to Beijing on a marathon 48-hour train ride and skip all the places in between. I had quite a bit of administrative things to do in Beijing before I leave for Mongolia.


Ürümqi to Beijing, CHINA - 22 june 2002

Slept. Snacked. Stared at window. Read. Relieved myself. Slept some more. Was found out to be a foreigner by now. Fielded interrogations. Ate dinner. Drank orange juice.


To Beijing, CHINA - 23 june 2002

Brushed teeth. Stared at window. Hopped down to the platform for a stretch. Read. Slept again. Ate apricots. Handled more interrogations.

“So, will you RETURN to China?” my fellow travel-mate drilled at me.
“Huh? R-e-t-u-r-n??? No.” I replied.
“WHY NOT?!?! YOU HAVE CHINESE BLOOD FLOWING IN YOU!!!!” he turned beet-red.

Ooops. Interrogations had gone awry. Slithered away to sleep again. Beijing… Beijing… Beijing…

5 - Dial M for Mutton (Kashgar)

Kashgar, CHINA - 13 june 2002

One of the ladies in my cabin on the train to Kashgar was a Chinese local living in Kashgar. As we prepared to get off the train, I enquired about the taxi fare to town, so that I would not be ripped off. This, somehow, spurred her to perform her duty of a local extending her hospitality to a foreign tourist. She said we could go to her nursery (she imported and exported plants and in fact, had had four plants with her on this train-ride) together and then, she would buy me lunch and get me settled down in my hotel. “OK, xie xie, [thank you] Liang Dan.” I accepted graciously.

Indeed all the above were done with a lot of attention and extreme generosity and I was really touched by her actions. Very sweet girl.

After I got settled down and did some laundry, I decided to head out for a quick walk around Kashgar. As I descended down the steps, a Chinese man was shouting in Mandarin to the room attendants nearby, “I am looking for a guest in this hotel. She is from Singapore.” He paused to examine me, “Are you the one?!?!”

Hang on, what was going on here? Well, it turned out Liang Dan had mentioned me to her brother and now, her brother, who apparently had heard ‘what a wonderful country Singapore is’, wanted to extend his hospitality to me too. So, Liang Dan and her brother trooped over to my hotel to try and track me down.

They sat me down at the lobby and her brother proceeded to criticise the hotel’s condition and boasted he could get me to stay at his friend’s hotel (which normally cost Y100+) for free.

The hotel I was staying in seemed to be Uyghur-run as many of the staff were Uyghurs. In a way, it was an affront to them to have an Uyghur hotel criticised so openly by a Han Chinese man, within their ear-shots. I felt very embarrassed. Although I tried my best to thank him for his kindness and that it was unnecessary for me to stay in a fancy hotel, he refused to listen to a word from me and stated I would check out tomorrow and stay at his friend’s hotel. He proceeded to inform that his friend was buying them dinner and I was to join them as I was now their guest.

So, that was how I found myself in a Chinese hotel on the outskirts of town, staring at a set Western dinner (beef steak, soup, bread and everything) plus heaps of food ordered from the Chinese menu.

I was still having a little diarrhoea problem but they would not listen to my feeble protests against eating any oily food and insisted I eat to give them ‘face’. Later, I was also made to drink a shot of the local Chinese whiskey even though I did not know how to drink and did not think it wise to drink anything with my weak stomach condition. Nope, Liang Dan’s brother would have none of it.

He then informed the Hotel Guy to get a room ready for me and my Irish friend tomorrow (Jane would be flying in then). The Hotel Guy paused for a long time before nodding his head in agreement. Oh no, he was unwilling to do this. Now, I felt even worse.

I was finally released back to my hotel by midnight, after making me promise to call Liang Dan’s brother on Saturday so that he could take me out on a tour.

I felt terrible. They were trying to make me comfortable and happy with my stay here in Kashgar. They did not want money or anything. They were just being generous and thoughtful in their ways. But this was not what we wanted. We did not want to be in the outlying area of Kashgar in a fancy Chinese hotel with a Western Café and the Imperial Restaurant.

But, there was the problem of the not giving them ‘face’ if I rejected all their generous offers.



Kashgar, CHINA - 14 june 2002

I gave a call to Liang Dan and explained that my Irish friend, Jane, and I travelled so far out into the Kashgar area to be in the middle of, we hope, the Uyghur culture - eating shish kebabs, smelling the mutton body odour, seeing the wonderful variety of exotic faces, head-gears and dresses and wandering in the bazaars. Liang Dan said she understood. I thanked her profusely again. I was once again reminded to call her brother on Saturday for the ‘tour’. Ooook, I guess I could not reject that.

Throw all your romantic notions away! Kashgar is no longer the exotic remote oasis, which had been a major trading post of the Silk Road for thousands of years. It is 2002 now, after all. One would be SILLY to expect the same rustic charm as 2000 years ago. We learnt our lessons in Turpan by setting high expectations for it and then, feeling a tad disappointed about it. So, before we came to Kashgar, we aimed really low.

True enough, there were spiffy roads, a Mao statue, new shopping malls and Oriental-looking bridges in front of the Ren Min (People’s) Park. But once in the Uyghur areas, the whole place was a labyrinth of twisting alleys and mud huts, interspersed by bazaars and mosques.

Jane and I simply wandered round the Id Kah Mosque and the bazaars by the two sides of the mosque and across the road. It was truly a fantastic experience. The faces we saw here were as diverse as those in Turpan and the bazaars here were busier and more interesting.

Here, shish kebabs are huge, chunky affairs and really delicious! The way to stomach it without feeling too queasy or gross about the fat is to accompany the kebabs with the local Uyghur tea. I loved them.

I had three sticks of kebabs and a bowl of noodle. The locals were gobbling them up like ten sticks each. A bevy of babushkas - Uyghur middle-aged ladies and grannies - came and sat next to me. Some sat with one of their legs up on the seat, exposing their underpants. Soon, they were served a mountain-load of shish-kebabs and gnawing away at them in no time.

With the mutton intake came the ‘aromatic’ body odour among the locals. Sometimes, I could still smell an Uyghur lady 3 minutes after she left the toilet, for example. Well, what you eat is what you smell. In the Tibetan part of China, I smelled yak butter among the monks. And here, I smelled barbecued mutton. Why not?







Kashgar, CHINA - 15 june 2002

I knew it was Saturday and that I ought to call Liang Dan or her brother but I decided to procrastinate til as late as possible.

I spent the day wandering among the alleyways in the Uyghur area, getting lost in the labyrinthine alleys. I enjoyed it very much. Uygher children were all delightful and seemed more precocious than Tibetan children and definitely more so than Han Chinese children.

In the Tibetan part of China, when the children asked for photos, all the boys would pose excitedly but the girls would stand by the side awkwardly. The Tibetan girls needed more persuasion before they shyly agreed. But here, the Uygher girls, many dressed in frou-frou lacy dresses and looked like wedding cakes, had had their hair shaved (maybe due to head lice?) and were fighting with the boys for more pictures. Strangely, these girls also had a kick out of tiaras. They would wear tiaras on their heads proudly and march off to school.

While the locals were mostly Muslims, there were many interesting varieties in their dressing too. The babushkas with the see-through head-scarves were plentiful. There was a larger number of women who covered their whole head and face with a brown cloth. Some wrapped their nose and mouth with a white scarf and wore dark sun-glasses. These looked like they participated in the Invisible Man Project. Many ladies and some girls also had drawn a line across their eye-brows connecting them. It was really interesting to observe such varieties.

I called Liang Dan in the evening and well, she said she and her brother were too busy with their work today and could not meet me. I know this made me look like a really bad person but I actually felt quite relieved. Liang Dan was sweet but her brother was difficult.

By night-fall, the area around Id Kah Mosque was transformed into a food market, selling boiled goat’s heads and innards, spicy chicken and eggs, chickpeas and some deep-fried sweet desserts. It was colourful and extremely busy. Jane and I sampled different dishes that looked swallowable, i.e. we did not try the goat’s head and innards.

An Uyghur elderly man found us interesting and chatted with us in Mandarin. Soon, we were surrounded by a group of at least seven people who appraised us seriously, furrowed their eye-brows, puzzled over our replies and made further queries and clarifications with the Uyghur elderly man who acted as the translator. We felt like zoo animals but they were friendly and just curious.


















Kashgar, CHINA - 16 june 2002

Kashgar is famous for its Sunday Bazaar. The population can swell up to 50,000 as villagers from the surrounding region come to buy and sell. According to a local, today’s bazaar was the quietest in a long time. It was the harvest time now, apparently.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the day tremendously doing what I liked best - people-watching.

The Kashgar Sunday Bazaar is a fantastically huge market. Farming forks, melons, yoghurt drink, apricots, hats, cloth materials, dried fruits and nuts, house-hold items, bicycle-repair parts, etc… everything that could be sold was sold here. The main covered market was huge and confusing, although similar items were indeed organised to be sold at their special sections. I got lost many times - which was great.

Outside the market was just as chaotic. Barbers had set up stalls by the side. These Uyghur men, who had apparently worn their skull caps all their lives and now removed them for the barbers, actually had fair skin where the hats used to be. The contrast was incredible. They received a good facial massage after their shave or cut.

I saw old, worn shoes being sold as well. Many came to try on the least disgusting looking pairs. Donkey carts shoved past you as the owners ferried sheep, fruits, their families across the market. It was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. There was so much to see. I really enjoyed myself here.

The weather was very hot and I stopped frequently for home-made vanilla ice-cream and yoghurt drink. People always warned about avoiding food items with ice and glasses which were not washed after each use, because of the questionable hygiene. Jane was very careful about this. But, NOT to eat the vanilla ice-cream and yoghurt drink is NOT to get into the Uyghur action. They were sold everywhere and eaten by everyone. And I loved them too.

4 - Desperately Seeking Shade (Urumqi)

Turpan to Ürümqi, CHINA - 09 june 2002

We made the easiest bus-trip so far to Ürümqi on an excellent bus which really barred smoking and actually had a luggage-storage area below, and we sped through an excellent highway.

There were modern, wind-powered structures like white, tall, skinny wind-mills in the desert around the highway. It reminded me of the scene in ‘Se7en’ where Kevin Spacey took Inspectors Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt to the desert to look for ‘two more bodies’. Very ‘Develop-the-West-Everyone-prospers’.

We placed ourselves in a nice hotel and I headed out to the train station to try and buy a ticket to Kashgar for a few days later.

I stood behind pushing and shoving men at the ticket window. The policeman yelled at them and they got into proper lines for a while before resorting to pushing and shoving again. It was unruly. I was a little disturbed but I believed patience would prevail.

A 100-kg guy pushed past me and jumped in front of me. The impatient old man behind me was dismayed. He started scolding me for allowing the 100-kg guy to jump the queue.

A 70-kg guy pushed past me and attempted to jump the queue. I believed my 48-kg frame could handle this one and elbowed him, yelling at him to queue up behind. He looked at me, unblinking and indifferent. After ignoring me successfully, he tapped on the shoulder of 100-kg guy and asked him to buy the ticket for him. 100-kg guy successfully ignored him as well and 70-kg guy slithered away when the policeman veered near us again.

Impatient-old-man-behind-me started scolding me again and asked if I was really buying train tickets. No, I am just casually standing here amongst you unruly men for the pleasure of annoying you! I supposed since I was not pushing and shoving or standing restlessly on one leg or the other, my sincerity in purchasing a train ticket was not so obvious.

When it came to my turn, the lady curtly told me she would not sell tickets for another day. She only sold for today. No wonder. Now I understood the urgency of these people. Oooomph, I was shoved off to the side by impatient-old-man at once.

I had no choice but to arrange with a travel agent then and pay the commission, sigh…



Ürümqi to Tian Chi, CHINA - 10 june 2002

Tian Chi is a beautiful glacial lake at the top of Tian Mountains. Being so accessible from Ürümqi, it meant many local tourists came here and it also meant the whole place was done up with kitsch touristy activities and high admission fees were charged.

Jane and I wanted to stay a night in a Kazakh yurt on the lake. The tour guide on my bus simply could not fathom why anyone would not want to follow behind her little flag, pay another Y20 for the boat-ride around the lake, visit a Kazakh yurt and wear the Kazakh costumes for a photo, stop for lunch at 2pm, have some free-time around the lake (but please do not stray too far) and then, take the cable-car for a lovely ride down by 4pm for the return journey to Ürümqi. We split from the group, pronto.

I was not feeling well again. It felt like fever. So, while Jane explored around the lake after we settled ourselves in Rashit’s Yurt, I slept in the yurt for most of the afternoon. Later, when I felt remotely better, I walked along the edge of the lake around the headlands and valleys until I could not find a safe route around the rocks and returned to the yurt. It was really quite peaceful and picturesque after the majority of the day-tourists had left.

Rashit’s name-card had promised ‘Three delicious meals’. I must correct that the meals were the worst we had ever eaten.



Tian Chi to Ürümqi, CHINA - 11 june 2002

I hate to disgust readers with this but I crapped every 2 hours from 2am this morning. I was really sick with diarrhoea but as I had packed a smaller bag for the trip here, I did not have my medicine with me.

A Chinese tourist staying at another Rashit’s yurt gave me some medicine. He asked if I knew this brand ‘Xie Li Ting’. I replied a ‘no’ and he proceeded to sing the jingle for me, hoping to jolt my memory from my presumed bouts of advertisement-watching on Chinese TV.

I could not eat anything and Jane and I decided to leave the yurt early and make our way slowly back to the touristy area and see if I could purchase a bottle of Coca Cola. Always Coca Cola for diarrhoea.

Near the dock for the boats, I sat and waited while Jane went for the boat-ride. A few men came to sit with me and invited me to eat at their restaurants further down the road. “Er… sorry, I have diarrhoea. I cannot eat anything today.” Immediately, the concerned men asked if I had medicine for it and told me a brand – ‘Xie Li Ting’, the same brand as what I had just been given - and promptly sang the same jingle. This must be the most popular brand in China for diarrhoea.

Hmmm… I was OK once I returned to Ürümqi. Good medicine.



Ürümqi to Kashgar, CHINA - 12 june 2002

Kathy (we met previously in Dunhuang) was issued a bed in our dormitory this morning. We greeted her ‘hello’ but she kept her back to us. Jane, later, tried to chat with her. Kathy did not look up from her diary and answered one-word answers to Jane’s questions. Gosh, she must be mad at us. She must have thought we ditched her that day in Dunhuang and now, refused to talk to us. Fine, I did not care. I was leaving Ürümqi today.

I braced myself for the 23-hour ride to Kashgar by stocking up on snacks and cup noodles. Jane would be flying to Kashgar tomorrow. So I would see her there tomorrow evening.

The train to Kashgar was the most luxurious I had been on. The announcement over the train kept harping on how one should be civic-minded and not smoke, throw rubbish, spit, etc… in the train cabins.

Hmmm… I had heard from a fellow traveller that she had once seen the train attendants dutifully gathering up rubbish from each compartment and putting them in plastic bags before tossing the bags out of the window.

I did not know if the attendants would do the same on this luxurious train but I would not be surprised. If one ever does a walking tour of China’s railway lines…