Travelling in Xinjiang

Xinjiang was an impressing and unique place.

It was broad and open, the uninhabitable nature. Within view were nothing but endless extensions of Gobi, prairies, and mountain ranges. In Gobi, big white windmills with large flabellum were a common sight. It was said that each flabellum was much longer than a bus. Some few fell on the ground. Sometimes, there was a little shallow creek flowing, loaded with many pebbles at the banks. Grass was scare, low and colorful with green, reddish and yellowish colors. In the prairie, herds of cows and sheep strode about and grazed the grass. Humans and houses were rare. But, now and then, there were construction sites with little colorful flags waving.

Most of the ethnic minorities there were descendents of Caucasians and Asians, with deep set eyes and high nose. Men were fat, tall, and strong with bushy black moustaches. The Hui wore white turbans, or little round white caps. One big and ruddy Hui man had a big moustache which curled like a fan. He had heavy eyebrows and small eyes. The Uygur men wore small white caps with flowery patterns and the women wore colorful headscarves. Some Uygur girls were very beautiful. I saw one with long black curly hair, tilting jaw, cute small nose, big brown eyes, and sweet thin mouth.

People there had different personalities with Chinese in the east. They were straight-forward and frank, not overly civilized. I talked with a Hui boy. When I complimented that he was smart, to my astonishment, he replied, “of course, I was smart, actually, I was unusually smart”. He also casually mentioned that he was ousted from the high school because of fighting with others. Another person talked about his stories of camping with his classmates in the mountain when he was in middle school. They stole one sheep, killed and boiled it in a big caldron. At night, they could hear the wolves howling. They took turns taking care of each other and the caldron. In the end, they were sent to the police station and stayed there for several days. He looked very happy-go-lucky. He said that, his biggest aim in life was to live a happy life, and raise a happy family. He used to be in the army, and he was so tired that he could fall asleep standing bolt upright. Now he was a politician.

As the train drew nearer to Urumqi, I could see the snow-topped mountain in the distance, a mark that seemed near, but quite far.

However, at last, it arrived. The city appearing in front of me looked a little dismal. It was not as developed as those prosperous modern eastern cities. But the many pots of small colorful flowers decorating some roads added some rich slashes to the city. Because of the dry weather, there were springs spurting water wherever there were lawns and trees in the city.

The weather was very weird with sharp ranges of temperature. For example, in the outside, when we stood in the shade for several minutes, we would get so cold that we had to move to the sun-shone place to get warm. But after several minutes, we would get so hot that we had to move to the shade to cool off again. It was scorching at noon and chilly at night. Because of it, fruits could accumulate large amounts of sugar, and were very sweet. So, Xinjiang was honored as the land of fruits and melons with some special fruits, such as flat peaches and Hami melon.

Meat and wheat were the staple. The dishes were generally very heavily seasoned, salty, spicy and oily, such as the common and delicious mutton shashlik. Pieces of lean mutton and a piece of fat were strung on the skewer, and roasted very hard and fragrant, then scattered with seasonings. There were also many kinds of flour-made snacks, such as the crisp Chinese doughnut and the sweet corn pancake. The corn pancake was strewn with golden and shining corn grains.

At night, colorful city lights twinkled. In the square, many people gathered, had fun and danced. A big screen in front shown shining red characters of Maintain the cooperation of different ethnics and promote the stability of the frontier.

The Xinjiang Provincial Museum exhibited a lot of artifacts excavated from the ancient Silk Road. Besides, it also shown the ancient mummies. Due to the dryness of the desert, some ancient bodies dated back to thousands of years didn’t rot. One woman mummy named “Loulan Beauty” was very famous. When she was found, she was still very well preserved to the point that her eyelashes could be seen plainly. But when I saw her in the museum, the whole body seemed to be cast of black copper, so I really couldn’t quite acknowledge her past beauty. But she had a slightly tilting jaw, and deep-set eyes. Her hair was in good condition, light yellow and blackish.

The Red Hill Park was considered the symbol of Urumqi. The red hills were of purple glutenite. The appearance of the hills was like a big dragon. At the hilltop, I could have a bird’s eye view of Urumqi. A big Ferris wheel with colorful seats stood out distinctly on the background of sprawling buildings.

 

Sketches of Cambodia

Late September 2013

It is drizzly at dusk. The sky is cloudy and gray. I like to be out of the hubbub, and be alone.

The night is descending. Straight and tall coconut trees thrust into the sky. Hanging down from the walls are green vines with perfect heart-shaped leaves.

The road is very narrow and long, disappearing into the far distance. In the distance, headlights of vehicles are shining and twinkling. In the dimness, many people are riding bicycles or motorcycles very fast, eager to go back home. How tranquil and peaceful, yet there is a slight sense of sadness in the darkening road.

 
Along the Street
This area seemed to be a hodgepodge. But, it generally gave an impression of disorder, crowdedness and poverty.

Along the street, it was very common to see shabby iron-board shacks with square windows pried open. Iron boards seemed to be patched together here and there. Sometimes, the black cooking smoke rose out, and tainted the iron boards. There were also many cemented bungalows. In one place, the road was drowned in black water puddles.

Various sorts of clothes were hung along the street. Small stalls sold assorted small groceries. Garbage was piled here and there. Now and then, green vines wandered out from the top of the iron board, or several lean and straight palms thrust out into the light blue sky.

But, amidst the spread of shabby houses, there were also some nice painted and several stairs houses with tall round pillars and nice balconies and banisters.

Women, wrapped in long skirts, sat outside along the street, chatting or doing some chores. Children were skylarking on the street. A group of cheerful teenager boys were kicking the shuttlecock together. And dogs trotted about.

In all the irregularities and dustiness, there was an atmosphere of familiarities, vivacity of life, leisure and cheerfulness. In the west, the sun glowed golden.

 

2013/10/20
In the afternoon, I walked about. It was a lazy and leisurely Sunday afternoon. Some slight clouds smeared over the blue sky. Leaves fluttered slightly.

The sun was scorching. But, it was nice and cool in the shade of buildings.
By the broad broken road were lines of beautiful western-style three-stair houses with pillars, red paints, and balconies decorated with pots of green plants. By the side of the school, there was a muddy by-lane lined with some shabby looking houses. Iron boards were put together to form walls. Many kids were chasing and frolicking in the outside, and the grown-ups were playing cards or chatting, familiar scenes everywhere in the world.

11.9
I took a walk outside in a lovely afternoon. The day started to cool off. The sky was light blue.
A street was lined up with lovely houses and neat paved yards. Sometimes, a car parked in the yard. Boughs of flower branches reached out from the wall. There was also a small pond. Across the pond, the bank was tightly packed with a lot of low iron-board shacks. And in the distance were the spiny towers of the temple. The golden and sparkling sun dazzled.
I walked on, and came across a very large piece of waste land, where a few plants grew. Clumps of grass stems swayed in the wind. I saw a big gray spider scurrying away. I wanted to take a closer look, but couldn’t. Obviously, it could feel my presence.
I saw a tall mimosa plant. On the stalk, there were a lot of thorns. I touched the green leaves, and those parts all closed up. It felt so magical. By the side of the waste land, there was a large green pond where a lot of green plants crowded together. It was so crowded that there wasn’t any space where I could see through. At the edge of the pond were clumps of reeds. I could see the round cubicle of dark brown furry seed swellings.
There was also a sprawl of morning glory flowers. The flowers were soft and white. Some already faded, and some were only buds, and some partly opened.
The sun sunk down, and in the west were patches of rosy and grayish clouds. And I walked back.

 11.12
The atmosphere is light gray and a little dim even though it is broad daylight as carpets of gray clouds are hanging low in the sky.
In the bare and gray tree branches stretching across like a web, the vines of sponge cucumbers are climbing and twisting around. Big shining palm-like leaves hang here and there. By the big gray tree trunk, there is a small stalk of green plants with delicate and symmetrical leaves.
Everything today goes for a magical story or a cartoon.
The frame of picture that is run across by the eyes, like in the background of puffy white clouds, the single wine dangles with fresh green palm-leaves.
Pots of green plants crowd in the yard, beyond the wall, is the stretch of low triangle-shaped iron-board house structures.

2013. 11.18

The late afternoon is so beautiful and serene.

The sunset is a very lovely time, because it is so cool, and everything is so lovely under the darkening blue sky, and soft light. 
Under the sky, there are iron-board houses of different colors. There are some dark green and some pale gray wooden houses with windows like a pair of eyes. Here and there, big trees thrust out from the crowd of houses, and cast out a shape of deep green.

I walk on the big patch of waste land. On both sides of me are ponds. One pond is thickly covered with a kind of unknown green plants. But, here and there, big lotus leaves thrust out higher than the cluster of small green leaves of those unknown plants. At the edge of the pond, I could see several large lovely lilac flower stalks. The sand by the pond is buried with many spiral shells.

The view is broad. Somehow, the houses, the pond, the trees, and the sky overhead, the slashes of pink clouds all make very enchanting, serene and lovely pictures for me.

The moon is hanging in the light blue sky, and underneath, on top of the iron board, there are some slight stalks of grass. I could see the clear cut outline of those small grass.

2013/11/19

The sky was light blue and smooth, with scarves of light clouds slashing here and there. Everything under the sky looked very serene and lovely, and peaceful.

The houses were lined up by the pond. The wind was so cool, blowing me all over. The light gray iron-board house had two big square green windows, and looked very cute.

And I saw a very big gray lizard moving from the flower stalk to the green leaves. It then lied there motionless, and it had a very long tail. By the pond, pouts of sand jutted here and there.

2013/11/20

The sky was light blue with fleecy clouds. The wind was so cool, blowing over a patch of wild plants. It felt so simple and dream-like.

And I sat by the side of the pond, and stared at the mass of green grass and shrubberies clustering together. There were some mimosa plants with soft and fuzzy lilac flowers and flat green beans. There were also sprawling patches of white morning glories. Some morning glories were purely white while others had deep purple hearts. It was so touchingly beautiful to see a purely white morning glory flower amidst the clustering green leaves. I spotted a small damselfly perched on a grass blade. The damselfly looked like an arrowhead because the tip of its tail was red, while the rest was all black.

At the left side, there was a very big tree sheltering against the shining sun. The sunshine flickered through the branches.

A tree stood in front of my door. It was all bare, but, the thin branches looked like a gray maze against the blue sky. I could see every distinct stroke of the branches. It was so impressively beautiful and lovely. The vines of the sponge cucumbers twisted around the bare tree, and covering it with big green palm-like leaves, shining and green in the sunshine.

Travelling in Yunnan

2013.1.7
The sceneries outside the train were very grand with majestic mountains and valleys. Patches of green fields scattered here and there in the scarce flat lands. Some villages assembled at the foot of the mountains.

Our destination was Dali, a beautiful and leisurely town, with nice weathers all the year round. Now, it was winter, very comfortable and warm. The wind was soft and soothing. Willow branches were tossing.
The buildings were orderly set, like a chessboard. They were of ancient styles, built of wooden structures with white walls and black roofs. On the white walls were drawn beautiful black pictures and on the big red doors were copper-like decorations.
A lot of springs gushed out from the ground. Many shops sold various kinds of exquisite and colorful artifacts, like scarves, necklaces and bracelets and so on. The precious stone shops sold a lot of smooth and mirror-like stones carved with vivid and beautiful sceneries. One stone had a red tinted sunrise.
At night, the crescent moon hung in the enchantingly deep blue sky, alongside many bright twinkling stars. Quaint yellowish lamps were lit. I also saw a very cute little furry dog.

Erhai Lake was very beautiful, reflecting the sapphire blue sky and white clouds. The waves lapped against the lakeside stones. Some trees grew in the water, leaves rustling in the wind. A lot of dark-orange wild ducks glided in the lake, calling to each other boisterously.
By the lake, there were also some deep blue small ponds where tall reed stalks swayed in the wind. The waves rippled softly, dazzling and silvery in the sunshine. Sometimes, flocks of birds bustled out and flew across the sky.

2013.1.8

Today I went to a big fantastic cave. The road zigzagged up and down. I walked along, touched and felt the bizarre-shaped coarse stones, like monsters, skeletons and teeth and so on. The cave walls were lit by colorful lights. Some tapeworm shaped stalactites hung down from the tops.
It was dim and quiet. In one place, there was a hole where people could see a peep of sunlight shining through all the teeth-like and crude stone holes.
Outside of the dark cave, it was a grand view from the mountain top. Sweeps of clouds were floating in the blue sky. Underneath were the green satin-like lake, spreading villages, fields and majestic mountains. A lot of mountains here had small and round humps on top. In the distance, it was very misty.
I also visited the three pagodas, one big in the middle flanked with two smaller ones. The light gray pagodas were tall and slender. By the side, a lot of stalls sold colorful artifacts, such as light brown gourds.
Yesterday night, when I got outside in the deep night, I was surprised to see multitudes of stars dazzling in the deep blue sky. Above my head, some star resembled a question mark.

2013.1.11

Early morning, the sky was light gray. Patches of dark gray clouds chased in the sky. There were a lot of flower pots with colorful and bright flowers in blossom.

2013-1-13

In the morning, the sky was light blue. It felt quiet, fresh and crisp. Old trees thrust out smoke-like dry and thin gray branches into the blue sky. The birds were very boisterous, chirping noisily in the trees.
I treaded on the stone paved street, touched the walls and tried to feel the passed times here.
The sunshine sifted down upon the roofs and the  winding river. People washed and brushed things there. By the riverside, some old willows stretched forth bare limbs. A lot of red and golden fish swam about in the river.

 

 

GFC-Deep in the Mountains

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