"Over the Torugart Pass- No difficulties though took things slowly - Complete change of scenery - Though still in the Tien Shan. The rocks very dramatic, arid, harsh and at times quite threatening. Wind storms in the valley. A wide stony river bed with hardly any water in it and by the end of summer it will be a trickle, if that. The contrast between the 2 sides of the border is dramatic. The houses are similar in the mountains but otherwise everything else is subtly different. The Uighurs have similar facial diversity to the Kyrgyz & maybe more so. I have seen people in Kashgar who could be Mediterranean or middle Eastern or Balkan as well as Central Asian. But the think I noticed instantly was the lack of horses. The sheep/goats graze on the side of hills or by the roadside but mostly they appeared to be left to their own devices r/t [rather than] managed by a man (or woman) on horseback. In fact the whole time coming down the pass I only saw 1 horse - several donkeys but apart from that one - not a single horse." So reads my first "China" diary entry (19th May). Customs was a strange experience. All the customs officers appeared to be young Chinese soldiers, (as opposed to Uyghur) doing national service I imagine, and posted to what must seem the outer end of China. So the arrival of a "tourist" truck rather than the usual heavy goods lorries must have been a welcome diversion. We were all unloaded and had to take back packs of the Archie back locker and pass them through a mobile scanning unit. All things went well and without a hitch except for 2 of the party who were obviously the "chosen ones" for the day. Their possessions were gone through with a toothcomb. And the toothcomb included nearly confiscating a small Persian miniature painted on camel bone that they had bought in Isfahan. But the point of issue was not that it was painted on camel bone (and therefore a banned animal product) but that it was a military scene - depicting a battle fought maybe 4 or 5 hundred years ago between the Persians and an unknown possibly Central Asian foe. The reason given for this was that it was against regulations to bring representations of war or battles into China. Heigh ho, the ridiculous rules and regulations!!! My diary reads "They are probably all Han & very much in an alien culture - sort of foreigners in their own country - only its not......" They did not look in the truck at all nor did the customs post down the road (well quite a few hours) although they scanned our bags from the back locker again. So the day bags, laptops and cameras left on the truck remained undisturbed. Including the undiscovered autobiography of the DaliL's sister which was in the truck library! So what with me inadvertently taking a book with a Salman Rushdie introduction into Iran, a copy of Craig Murray's Murder in Uzbekistan (a really good read and very revealing of the politics and allegiances in the run up to the Iraq War) going around the truck in Uzbekistan and now the DL's sister's book into China we were not doing too badly in the "banned" literature department! There was very much a Central Asian feel to that first day (apart from the lack of horses) and it still felt like travelling through the "Stans". As noted all the officials were Chinese but the population most definitely were not. Diary read "..... Long, long drive town to Kashgar to the Seman Hotel. What a place, apart from the decorative plasterwork over the porch having obviously collapsed a few minutes before we arrived - it was all that could be asked. The room would not be out of place in Mad Ludwig's castle (Neuschwanstein). The ceiling is picked out in shades of pale pinks, green and blue with Rococo plasterwork picked out in glitter blues, yellows, red, greens, etc. The cornice is pierced tracery - also picked out in glitter. Likewise there are wall panels in similar style. It has become a photo opportunity - It is a pity that I was feeling so awful throughout." And here it is.............................
And OH JOY & DELIGHT - not only these wonderful, exuberant decorations to admire but our old friend Nasruddin the Hodja on his donkey (wrong way though - facing forward) right outside the hotel!
I completely forgot to mention that wonderful Silk Road institution known as John's Cafe, to be found in the same compound as the Seman Hotel where I went for all my meals. http://www.johncafe.net/ This splendid cafe was ably run by John himself and the great thing was that for the next few hotel stops we found a John's Cafe at each one.
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